Harry Potter and the Areani
by Mentally Impaired
Summary: Sequel to HP and the Death Eaters of Hogwarts. Harry starts to take a more active role in the war and gets an interesting offer from the Ministry. As the war grows to a global scale, Harry tries his best to stop the spread of Voldemort's influence.
1. Independence

A/N: So here it is, finally. I got a new laptop since the old one broke on me and had to rewrite the first chapter. It isn't much but its enough to get the ball rolling. I want to try to get Chapter 2 and maybe even Chapter 3 up before school starts in a week and a half. No promises though.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to J.K. Rowling and all the companies who purchased the rights to publish the series. I wrote this for fun. I get no profit from this. Yadda, yadda, yadda; so forth and so on.

Chapter 1 Independence

Harry Potter didn't bother to knock because technically it was his home and one did not need to knock to enter their home. Still that didn't prevent the Dursleys from staring at him with their mouths open when he entered the kitchen. They knew when he was coming home, he had made sure to send them a large owl stating when he would be coming home, and made sure to state he didn't need a ride since he had his own. He also made sure the owl he chose had a bad bowel problem but that was beside the point.

He took several steps into the room and just stared at his family. They stared back at him, not even noticing as Remus slipped into the room behind Harry. Remus was there to witness what was going to happen between nephew and, aunt and uncle. Harry had told him of his plan for the summer, and though he was worried about most of the plan, the beginning would probably give him some amusement.

Uncle Vernon couldn't take the silence. "Well what do you want? Why the hell are you just staring?"

"Sorry uncle, just remembering how much I hate seeing you're fat and ugly face," Harry answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

Vernon purpled with rage. "I should have drowned you when I had the chance, you ungrateful bastard."

"Shoulda, woulda, coulda. And for shame uncle, my parents were married when I was born."

Vernon Dursley didn't like the smirk on his nephews face. He stood up, struggling slightly at doing so. "You have no right to disrespect me in my own house! You're lucky we still let you live here!"

Dudley for his part looked on in boredom. He and Harry had formed a truce last summer when the much smaller teen helped Dudley train to be a boxer. They weren't friends but the animosity that used to exist between them was gone. For all Dudley cared, let Harry get his few verbal shots in and then let the teen be on his way. All his dad was doing was drawing out the inevitable, which was Harry being out of their lives forever.

"I don't want to live here uncle. In fact I don't think I'll live here anymore."

Uncle Vernon started laughing hysterically. Harry looked on in slight fear. Not because he was afraid of his uncle. No, he was afraid he might have finally broken his uncle. He had always wondered when Vernon Dursley would snap, maybe this was finally it.

"Where are you going to go boy?" Vernon got out between chuckles. "You have no other family; no place to go and no money to support yourself! You're nothing!"

Now it was Harry's turn to laugh. Vernon stopped when the one person he didn't want in on his joke got in on his joke.

"I never told you uncle? I'm rich! Hell I'm bloody loaded. How much do I have Remus?"

For the first time the Dursleys noticed the shabby wizard leaning against the kitchen doorframe. "If you want to convert it to pounds, that would come out to a little over 200-million pounds."

"Two….two hundred…" Petunia stuttered out, putting her hand to her chest and staring at her nephew with wide eyes.

"Yup. See my dad came from an old, rich family and made a lot of money as one of my world's top law enforcement officials. Not to mention the flat in London, the summer home in southern France, the manor in western Wales and the house in northern Wales."

Vernon could only gape in shock at his nephew, falling backwards into his seat, which creaked under the weight.

"You wanna know what sucks for you guys? If you had only been nice to me growing up, maybe treated me with some respect, you guys would probably be seeing some of this money. But you know what they say, you reap what you sow."

Harry turned to leave but stopped and turned back toward his so-called family. "I can do magic now. Since my world is in a war my government felt it necessary for teens my age to be able to practice defense. There are so many things I've dreamed of doing to you guys ever since I learned I could. I won't though. See you aren't worth it and to be frank, I just don't care about any of you, at all. Lucky for you I suppose.

"Oh and Aunt Petunia, your dad's real name wasn't Evans, it was Kingston. He was a squib, which is a non-magical person born into a magical family. I've claimed headship of the family last year and just thought I'd let you know. Dudley should watch out, since magic runs in his blood, he might have magical children."

Aunt Petunia looked shocked at the news while Dudley looked slightly terrified. Harry exited the kitchen with Remus right behind him.

"You didn't tell them both houses in Wales are destroyed from the last war."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "What they don't know won't hurt them."

Neither of them talked again until they were both seated in Harry's car. Remus turned toward his "nephew" with concern.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure Remus. I can't stand living with them and it was time I broke free, despite what Dumbledore says. Besides if I'm going to be a part of this war I'm going to need my independence."

"You can always live with Sirius and I. You know that right?"

"I know," Harry murmured. "You've told me that enough. Don't worry though, I'll be fine."

Harry started the car, put it into drive and pulled away from the curb. He started on his way to the Marauder's house, only a block from Number Four.

"What now?" Remus asked.

"After I drop you off, I'll head to London and move into the flat I own, and you, Sirius and my dad lived in for a year and a half after you guys graduated. I'll improve the wards around it, find a gym to keep in shape and maybe even a dojo to learn some more hand-to-hand combat. Then I'll train my ass off in dueling, go around recruiting members for the Order and try to enjoy myself."

"Stay in touch Harry. Neither Sirius nor I like the fact that you're going to be on your own for a while. And try to find another roommate to live with. That flat has enough room for three."

Harry nodded at Remus' word, knowing how much the werewolf worried over these kinds of things.

"I'll connect my floo to yours through the Ministry so we can keep in touch easily. Maybe I'll contact Dumbledore, see if he can't use his powers as Minister to make things go a little quicker and easier."

Remus smiled at the car pulled up in front of the house he shared with Sirius. He reached over and gave Harry a half-hug.

"Try to do that. I expect to hear from you in a few days, whether it be through the floo or a letter."

Harry smiled back. "Of course, Remus. Tell the mutt I'll be in contact."

* * *

The goblins of Gringotts made life a lot easier for wizards trying to get by in the muggle world. Passports, licenses, the necessary papers needed to complete such and such a task; all were something the goblins could do easily, for the right price. Sirius had done all the work for Harry, acting as a middleman for the goblins and the Boy-Who-lived. The goblins had found the paperwork for the flat in London, filled out by James Potter when he had leased it at the end of his seventh year, as well as every copy of the lease when it was renewed. They also provided Harry with several forms of photo id, like a library card to the London library and a school id to Hogwarts, the private school for talented young men and women to refine their crafts, to go along with the New Zealand driver's license he had gotten from Sirius last summer. They drew up emancipation papers for the muggle world, signed by his legal guardian, Sirius Black, to be filed upon Sirius' discovery of non-guilty which would be happening in a few days. This would give him the status of adult in the muggle world, so no one could do anything to the fifteen-almost-sixteen year old living by himself in London.

The owner of the apartment building had been shocked to see Harry walk into the building. It was like he was back eighteen years in the past; staring as a charming young man named James Potter approached him about leasing one of the nice and expensive flats that occupied his building. When James Potter had left the flat for the last time, bringing his roommates, the rowdy Sirius and the quiet Remus, with him he had known he would never see the teen again and he was right after reading about his death in the paper two years later. Still every year the lease was renewed, presumably by either a family member or a lawyer, and he was given the rent for the entire year on January second, every year for the pass eighteen years.

Now James Potter's son, who looked so much like his father it was remarkable, was looking to take up living in the flat. The teen had the lease and several forms of id, including a driver's license from New Zealand, which was very odd indeed. Still everything was in order, including paperwork about the emancipation papers that had been filed and were in the process of being reviewed for approval. He warned the teen that if the emancipation didn't go through he wouldn't allow him to stay in the flat unsupervised, and he expected to see the results in a few days.

Harry nodded his head, assuring the man that everything would go through. He took the key, told the owner he could find the flat on his own, and hefting his trunk after him, set off to find his new home for the summer.

The door to 3G was the same dark green as every other door. The inside of the flat, Harry decided, was probably the same as well, if severely outdated. It was a two floor flat, with the top half being a loft that looked over the living room. The living room was a large open area with several worn leather couches and a large wooden coffee table littered with scorch marks, probably from spells. Several side tables sat at the ends of the couches. A small fireplace, not big enough to floo through but big enough to floo-talk, sat against one wall. The kitchen was separated from the living room by an island of counters. The out-of-date appliances that littered the kitchen looked ancient compared to the relatively new ones from the Dursley's kitchen. Everything was from 1978, including the Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones dishes and silver wear. There was no table to eat on; instead several bar stools surrounded the island.

A hallway broke off of the living room, exactly opposite of the front door. The hallway was rather small and contained three doors. One door lead to a full bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower. The other doors led to two bedrooms of equal size. Both had queen size beds, a desk and chair, and a large wardrobe. One room was colored blue and tan, tame colors, which Harry guessed was Remus' old room. The other room was colored a bold green and gold, which Harry guessed was Sirius.

Upstairs, which one reached due to an iron-spiraling staircase, consisted of a sitting room with its fourth wall being an iron railing that when looked over allowed one to see the couches and fireplace below. The sitting room had several empty bookcases, a few bean bag chairs and a ratty looking futon. There were two doors in the sitting room. The door on the left led to the master bedroom. It had a king size bed, a large wardrobe, a dresser and a desk with a chair. The room was colored red, darker then Gryffindor's red, and silver. The door on the right led to a large bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, shower, toilet and sink, which also had a door that went to the master bedroom.

The first thing Harry decided, after plopping his trunk down at the end of the king size bed, was to visit Gringotts. Unfortunately it would have to wait until tomorrow morning. It was late, a little pass nine o'clock. The wards set up on the flat were decent, from what Remus had told him, but they could be broken easily enough if someone had enough skill or power. Harry knew a few protection spells, which he had studied up on after finding out about the Potter family's supposed affinity for Runes.

He set about inscribing some runes into the door and door frames of not only the front door, but his bedroom as well. He did the same to the four walls of the flat, and its large window that overlooked downtown London. There wasn't much one could do, rune wise, without some base material like bones or gems, to anchor and power the wards. Still a few runes to strengthen the structure would be just fine and might give him time against Death Eaters trying to blast their way in. He also drew a simple perimeter alarm around the doorways, nothing that would last forever, but it would last the night and alert him if anyone crossed the premises or dispelled it.

He slept soundly that night, a smile on his face as he thought of being rid of the Dursleys forever and dreams of Hermione entertaining his sleeping mind. The next morning, when he awoke, he quickly showered and went off to Gringotts. The Leakey Cauldron was about twelve blocks from his flat. It was a walk but it wasn't so bad. It even gave him time to examine the neighborhood around him, giving him a chance to pick out potential places to eat and hang out.

Gringotts assured him they would send their best ward builders to enchant and ward his flat with the best defenses possible. It would cost him, several hundred galleons in fact, but what was the whole point of money if you weren't alive to enjoy it? After paying he was assured that at exactly three o'clock in the afternoon, two curse breakers would be at his house to set up the wards.

Leaving Gringotts and stepping out of the Leaky Cauldron into the busy streets of muggle London, Harry decided to explore. He discovered a gym several blocks from the Leaky Cauldron that offered lesson in jujitsu, kick boxing and boxing. He stepped inside, looked at all the high tech equipment and talked to the muscular guy behind the desk. He left with a promise to return the next day, once he had everything set in order.

Only a block from his flat there was a little cafe that people seemed to be passing over in favor of the larger restaurants and the fast food chains. Harry wasn't much for crowds so he decided to stop in for lunch. A few people sat here or there but most of the tables were empty. Harry hoped it wasn't because the food was terrible.

One of the waitresses, a middle-aged woman, waved at him to sit down at any table he wanted. He picked one near the back, sitting so he could see the entire café and not worry about anyone sneaking up on him. He was Harry Potter and he was vulnerable in a muggle café. He didn't want to be completely stupid.

A much younger waitress, probably only a year or two older than him, approached his table. She was a few inches shorter then Harry, had curly brown hair, hazel eyes and a pretty smile.

"Hi! My name is Brandy and I'll be your waitress today. Here is your menu. Would you like to order your drink now?"

Harry took the menu and smiled at her nervousness. "Hello Brandy, my name is Harry. And I don't need a menu."

He handed the menu back to her as she stared at him in surprise. "You don't?"

"Nope, because you're going to pick what I'm eating."

"I am?" Harry nodded his head. She bit her bottom lip and looked at him uncertainly. "Are you allergic to anything?"

"No allergies."

"Is there any type of food you hate eating?"

Harry thought about it for a second. "Hummus."

She let out a little chuckle. "You don't have to worry about getting that here."

"Well that's good then."

"I guess I'll get you…"

Harry held up his hand, stopping her from telling him what she was going to order for him. "I'd like to be surprised. Just put the order in and bring it out."

She bit her bottom lip again. "What if you don't like it?"

Harry laughed. "Then I'll pay you to throw it out and I'll order something else."

"And you're sure about this?"

"I'm so sure I could get a PhD in sureness."

Brandy shook her head as she walked away, looking back at him over her shoulder. Harry smiled as he saw her looking, making her blush.

* * *

Harry whistled to himself as he made his way down the hallway to his flat. He felt a little guilty flirting with the waitress and wondered what Hermione would say if she knew he had done it. Then he saw who was sitting against the door to his flat and he felt even guiltier.

"Hermione, how did you know where I live now?" Harry asked as he approached her.

"Harry, please."

She didn't have to say any more because Harry knew exactly what she meant. She found out because she was Hermione. She stood up as he came to a stop in front of her. He leaned in to give her a kiss but she turned her head and he caught her cheek instead of her lips, like he was aiming for.

He shot her a questioning look but she refused to meet his eyes. "We need to talk."

Harry frowned as he let himself and Hermione into his flat. He nodded over to the worn down couch, where they both proceeded to sit.

"Harry, what are your feelings to me?"

"I don't understand. I care for you greatly, I…I think I might even love you."

Hermione smiled at his proclamation but shook her head. "You do love me Harry but not like you think. You love me like you love Ron or Sirius."

"Are you trying to say I'm gay?"

"No! Harry you don't know what love is. The Dursleys have messed you up emotionally."

Harry scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Thanks for the kind words Hermione."

"I didn't mean it as an insult Harry. You just don't know the difference between affections. You think I'm pretty, get along with me and have affection for me, so you think its romantic feelings."

At first Harry was outraged Hermione would deny Harry's feelings toward her. Then he started thinking about it. Harry put his head into his hands and stared at the floor. Was it true? Did he only think of Hermione as a really good friend, or maybe even as a sister?

"What about you?" Harry asked, glancing at his girlfriend, most likely soon to be ex-girlfriend. "What do you feel?"

"I never had romantic feelings toward you Harry. I think you're handsome and you're a great friend but not someone I can see myself with. I liked the attention you gave me and I felt vulnerable after I was attacked, and you were there to make me feel safe. I lied to myself saying I felt something for you. After the whole Forbidden Forest thing, I realized I had to stop lying to the both of us, because I was holding us both back from finding true love."

"That's why you were ignoring me the last two weeks. I thought you were just panicking over O.W.L.S."

Hermione went to wrap her arm around his shoulder but seemed to think better of it. "I hope this doesn't change anything between us."

So it was official; they were breaking up. Maybe it was for the best. It was so easy for him to flirt with that waitress today and maybe it was because deep down he knew he didn't have those kinds of feelings for Hermione. Still that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He thought they had something special. Apparently it was all a lie, for the both of them. However, Hermione was looking for reassurance, and he figured he might as well give it to her.

"Nothing will change. We'll still be best friends." Hermione smiled at the news. "I'll compare every girl to you, you know. You'll be my test and if I can ever find a girl who measures up to you, I'll know I found the one."

Hermione smiled at Harry. "I'll do the same."

Harry's watch beeped, causing Harry to glance down at in surprise. 2:50 flashed back at him, giving him ten minutes until the curse breakers got there.

"Are you expecting someone?" Hermione asked.

"I got some ward builders coming over to ward the flat. They should be here in about ten minutes."

Hermione's face lit up. "I always wanted to see ward builders work!"

"Um Hermione, I know I said nothing will change between us, but maybe a little space would be best for now."

Harry felt a little bad watching Hermione's face fall. Still, you don't just hang around your ex-girlfriend/boyfriend right after the break up. That was just weird and wouldn't give either of them time to fully get over it.

"You're right of course. Plus I have to pack. My parents are taking me to Canada for a few weeks. We leave in two days."

She let herself out, after Harry told her to have a good trip and reminded her to keep her guard up. If he was honest with himself, Harry didn't like the idea of Hermione traveling abroad without any protection. Not only was she Harry Potter's best friend, but she was also the most accomplished student at Hogwarts in a long time, showing up every pureblood in school and making the argument that purebloods are better null and void. He had no doubts that someone like Lucius Malfoy, at the urging of his son, would take out Hermione if given the opportunity. Still, it wasn't like he could actually do anything about it. He had trained her, he had warned her to be safe. The rest was on her.

A few minutes after Hermione left, Harry heard a knock on his door. He opened it to find Bill Weasley and an unknown woman with stern features.

"Harry?" Bill asked in surprise. "When Gringotts said it was a high-profile client, I didn't think they meant you."

"Hey Bill. I thought you were a curse breaker, not a ward builder."

"I am but I do know a few things about ward building too. I know a lot about setting up Ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek wards, which many people don't know here in England. I guess Gringotts figured with who is probably to attack you, something more complicated to take down would be better than standard wards of pure power."

Harry nodded his head in agreement before remembering his manners. "Please come inside."

He stepped back and let the two Gringotts employees into his flat. They both looked around, probably sizing the place up and trying to find the best places to layer the wards. The female handed him a scroll and asked him to look over it.

"Standard warding contract to be signed by the warders and the wardee. You state that you paid the fees agreed upon and that you will allow the warders to do their job on your premises. The warders agree that they will perform their duty to the best of their abilities without knowingly and purposely leaving a weak spot in the wards or messing up a ward scheme. Warders also agree to a term of silence when it comes to where the wardee lives, the ward scheme they set up and where the runes and stones that anchor the wards are placed."

Harry half-listened to the woman as he read over the contract. Everything was as she said it was. Nodding his head, he accepted the quill handed to him. He quickly signed the contract, wincing as his signature cut into the back of his hand, signifying the quill as a blood quill. Bill and the woman, who he quickly learned was named Serena and Gringotts best warder, signed the contract as well.

Harry was curious about setting up wards and so followed Bill and Serena as they set up the wards. That quickly turned to just Bill as Serena seemed to be annoyed at his presence. He learned about the use of a controller stone and the runes carved into it, to regulate the wards. How power and support stones went hand in hand to keep the wards running at full capacity; amongst other things.

"There we go." Bill murmured, his voice tired after two hours of rune etching. "Nothing that will kill but anyone who tries breaking into here without fully taking care of the wards will suffer some nasty injuries."

Serena stepped forward and handed Harry the whittled bone of a dragon. He could easily make out the runes carved into it, due to the dark red blood that had been sucked into the rune carvings. It was Harry's blood and was necessary to make him master of the wards. The control stone, which was an emerald littered in runes, was the same way.

"Only those who you invite in can enter these wards. You must give them express permission to enter, otherwise the wards will activate. If you are going to have someone come here a lot and don't feel like having to give them permission every time, you can add them to the wards by getting a drop of their blood on this master stone."

Harry accepted the stone. "Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome Mr. Potter."

"No problem Harry."

Harry walked them to the door. "Tell Ron to send me an owl," Harry told Bill.

"Sure thing. Do you want me to not tell mom where you're living? She might rush here to drag you to the Burrow if she finds out you're living by yourself in London."

Harry shook his head. "You can tell her. You did the ward scheme so it should be safe in here."

Serena was standing in the hallway, tapping her foot impatiently. Bill glanced at her before leaning in close to Harry.

"I enchanted the window to be an escape route. When the wards are breached, the window will let you and anyone keyed to your wards or invited in here by you, pass right through. Others will have to break through the other enchantments on it in order to follow. Serena doesn't know. Just because she can't tell people the ward scheme, doesn't mean she can't tell them to keep guards by the window."

Harry nodded at Bill's words, glancing quickly at Serena who stared at the two of them with some suspicion. "Thanks Bill."

With that the two ward builders were gone, leaving Harry alone again. He still had some things he had to do. Visit the Ministry to set up a floo connection, although it would only be for floo-calls. He also wanted to replace all the out of date stuff with more up to date appliances and furniture. The living room was also big enough that he wanted to set up an area to practice spell work and dueling. The Room of Requirement back at Hogwarts had spoiled him with all the space it had given him.

It was a little after five in the evening. Most Ministry workers left at five, after their eight-hour shifts. He would have to wait for tomorrow to get his floo hooked up. However, muggle stores didn't close for another few hours. That gave him plenty of time to go out and get new appliances, dishware and furniture. He had to remember to ask Sirius and Remus about the Grateful Dead stuff.


	2. First Order Recruits

I know I probably turned several people off by getting rid of the Harry/Hermione pairing. I stated in the previous story that Harry and Hermione were not going to be permanent. I might have them get back together later but as of right now, Harry is living like most teenagers. He isn't going to find his true love right off the bat. He is going to see several girls, be in several relationships and eventually, he'll discover the one he is meant to be with. I'm generally against it when people make Harry have one girlfriend/fiancé his entire life. In this story Harry will have no set pairing.

Chapter 2 First Order Recruits

It had been four days since Harry had the wards put up over his flat. He had purchased up-to-date furnishing and appliances for the flat, including a new television. He had set up an area for target practice off in a corner, to practice his casting. He had gone to the Ministry (didn't see Dumbledore) and set up a floo connection. The last thing he did was get a membership to the local gym. The three fighting classes; boxing, kick boxing and jujitsu, would be starting soon and he was debating which ones to sign up for.

Sirius had turned himself in after Dumbledore officially took the role of Minister. Two days later he was declared innocent, given a lot of money in compensation and offered a job as a Senior Hit-Wizard. The goblins pushed through Harry's emancipation papers, and he was approved the same day. So far things seemed to be going smoothly for Harry.

Several Daily Prophets sat on the counter. He had started his subscription again with Fudge gone, since the paper had stopped slandering him and had issued a public apology for spreading so many lies about him.

'Dumbledore Inaugurated! Black Turns Himself In At Inauguration Ceremony!'

'Amos Diggory Made Undersecretary.'

'Sirius Black Declared Innocent! Peter Pettigrew Is Alive!'

'Remus Lupin, Known Werewolf, Made Head of Department of Magical Creatures!"

'Black Reinstated as Hit-Wizard.'

'Hit-Wizard Recruitment Increased!'

'Grades Required For Auror Training Reduced!'

Those were just several of the headlines that jumped out at him. Dumbledore was making so many new changes that the Prophet seemed to be having a hard time choosing which story would be front page material. Instead they just cut the front page in half, sometimes thirds, with details continuing on later pages.

The paper he had gotten today, which he read as he sat down and ate breakfast, talked of two important things. The first was the changes being made in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The first of the changes was the renaming of the MLE Squad into Auxiliaries. They still performed the same task, just a different name; with the nickname 'Ox' being given to their members. The second of the changes was the creation of the Ministry of Magic Investigative Services, called mommies (MoMIS) by disgruntled Ministry workers. MMIS was created to look into any funny business involving Ministry workers. If an Auror was thought to be too abusive when questioning suspects, MMIS looked into it. If a Department head was thought corrupt, MMIS looked into it.

Along with those two changes was the fact that the fourth floor, where the offices of each of the separate divisions of the larger department sat, was considered too small to house all of them. The Auxiliaries, were given control of most of the floor, sharing it with the Improper Use of Magic office, the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, the Wizengamot Administration Services and the Ministry of Magic Investigative Services. The Hit-Wizards and Aurors were given new headquarters.

The Hit-Wizards were moved to two new buildings. One was located in Diagon Alley, down a side alley named Eagle Street. The other was located in the countryside of Wales, several miles from Cardiff. The Diagon Alley one was the main building, designated Alpha, and could house up to sixty-five Hit-Wizards. The other one was the secondary building, designated Bravo, and where the training of new recruits took place. It could house up to twenty Hit Wizards and fifteen recruits. Each one contained barracks, equipment store rooms, offices, training grounds, prison cells, a mess hall, an infirmary and an R&R room.

With Hogsmeade being rebuilt, it was decided that a few new additions would be added to the town and new regulations needed to be enforced. The Mayor of the village had agreed to allow Auror Headquarters to be built on the outskirts of the town, north of the railroad tracks. The Auror Headquarters would be equipped with offices, a mess hall, training grounds, barracks, several cells for prisoners, equipment stockrooms, potion labs, forensic labs, evidence lockers, an infirmary and an R&R room. The building was heavily warded and was built with defenses that could be activated at a moment's notice. It could house up to eighty-five Aurors, though there was only forty-nine right now.

The second important thing involved the changes being made at Hogsmeade, and not just the fact that Auror Headquarters would be located there. All public buildings were restricted to allow only floo-calls and outgoing floo travel. All private floos were to be password and magical signature protected to prevent anyone unwanted from using them. A group of twenty Auxiliaries would patrol the town at all times. A village militia, at the moment only containing fourteen of the villages two hundred adult population, was being trained by Auxiliaries every Sunday and Wednesday night. Anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards had not only been erected over the town, but in a two mile radius in all directions. A public floo, portkey and apparition center had been set up on the outskirts, the only place you could arrive within the wards, and would be guarded by eight Auxiliaries.

Other wards, such as those that kept out dementors, vampires, giants and transformed werewolves, had also been erected. A small hospital, about a tenth of the size of St. Mungo's, was being built near the dueling arena. Along with all the old houses and businesses being rebuilt, fifty new houses were going to be added to the residential area, half of the deeds already purchased by families thinking a heavily warded Hogsmeade with Auror Headquarters right there being safer than their current locations.

With Hogsmeade being located so close to Hogwarts it was viewed as a prime target for Voldemort. Rumors were running that Dumbledore was in talks with the centaur herd to patrol the Forbidden Forest along the boundaries of the village and school. Though no one had any idea what Dumbledore could offer the centaurs to consider such a thing.

He put the paper down as he heard a knock at his door. Grabbing his wand, which sat next to his breakfast plate, he cautiously approached it. Looking through the peephole he could see Ron and Mrs. Weasley standing on his doormat. Ron had sent him a letter because after Mrs. Weasley found out he was living on his own; she had wanted to talk to him. He had sent Ron a letter telling him the address of his apartment, as well as the fact that Hermione had broken up with him.

Harry swung open the door, his wand aimed at the two in front of him. Both frowned at the wand pointed at them.

"Ron, after we found out Snape was refereeing my match against Hufflepuff in my first year, and Hermione suggested I pretend to break my leg so I couldn't play, what did you suggest?"

Ron scrunched up his face for a second before a grin made its way onto his face. "I suggested you really break your leg."

Harry nodded his head, lowering his wand. He supposed he should have asked Mrs. Weasley something too but he figured Ron wasn't stupid enough to get duped by someone not his own mom.

"Would you like to come in?" Harry asked, stepping back from the door.

Ron went to walk in but Mrs. Weasley's hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "Bill said to make sure you properly invite us in. Is that enough?"

Harry frowned. "I'm not sure. I never really thought about it when they told me I had to properly invite people in. I'd like to invite Ron Weasley and Mrs. Weasley to enter my flat."

This time Mrs. Weasley let Ron step into the flat, following right behind her son when nothing happened. They both looked around the flat, Ron with appreciation and Mrs. Weasley with disapproval.

"I'd offer you breakfast, but I'm just about done with mine. Unless you'd like me to make you something?"

"It's alright Harry dear. We already ate."

Harry could tell Mrs. Weasley wanted to say something, probably about him living on his own. Mrs. Weasley had good intentions but she was way too smothering.

"I'm emancipated now."

The dam was broken. "Emancipation doesn't mean anything! That Sirius and Remus would let you be so irresponsible like this! Putting your life in danger by living on your own; in London no less!"

Ron took a step back. He was use to his mom in this kind of state. Harry's best bet was to curl up in a ball and play dead. That's what most of the Weasley children did. The Boy-Who-Lived could try pulling a Bill, the only Weasley child known to win in an argument against their mom when she was like this, by standing up to her but it would be tricky; she could smell fear.

"Sirius and Remus are against it as well. However, they realize the fact that I need my independence, especially if I'm going to take a more active role in this war."

Mrs. Weasley put her hands on Harry's shoulders. "A more active role? You're a teenager! Let the adults handle this. You should be worrying about homework and girls."

"Mrs. Weasley I have to kill Voldemort."

"Don't say such things! Killing at your age..."

"It was prophesized."

That shut Mrs. Weasley up. She stared at Harry hopelessly. Ron blinked in surprise. He had never heard this before. When did Harry find out? Why hadn't he told his best friend?

"Prophecies are vague things," Mrs. Weasley stuttered.

Harry shook his head. "I saw the Oracle of Delphi. She told me it had to be me."

Mrs. Weasley brought a hand to her mouth as she stared at Harry. She reached out and pulled Harry into a hug, a small sob escaping her lips. Harry looked at Ron in bewilderment and all Ron could do was shrug back hopelessly. Harry hesitantly returned the hug, patting Mrs. Weasley on the back.

"Everything bad seems to happen to you," Mrs. Weasley stated.

"It's ok Mrs. Weasley, honestly. I'm use to it and better me than someone else."

Mrs. Weasley pulled back and seemed to look at Harry in a new light. "Still living on your own..."

Harry glanced over at Ron. "Ron could live with me."

Ron's face lit up at the thought while Mrs. Weasley didn't look so thrilled. Harry figured having someone his own age living with him, someone who wouldn't feel it there need to be an adult figure, would be fun. Ron was his best friend. Living with Ron in London for the summer sounded like a pretty good time.

"Please mom?"

"I don't know Ron. You're only sixteen and with the war picking up again, I don't know if it will be safe."

"Bill set these wards up himself mom, just like the new wards around the Burrow. It won't be any safer there then it is here. Besides, I'll be with Harry and he's as good as most Hit-Wizards in a fight." Ron gave his mom his best puppy-eyes.

"We could even get a third roommate, if you'd feel safer if we had one more person," Harry added. "I can see what Neville is up to."

Mrs. Weasley looked back and forth between the two hopeful faces. It would do Harry some good to have someone else around, since Merlin knew the boy could probably use the comfort of having someone who cared about him around. He was still to self-reliant, not realizing that there were dozens of people who would willingly help him. He always felt the need to go off and do things on his own; due to his horrible upbringing she was sure. Though, it seemed he was starting to understand the idea of asking for help.

While she was against having Ron away from the house, especially in such dangerous times, having someone else with Harry would give her more comfort. Not to mention, judging from the dueling tournament, Harry really was a great fighter. Much better then Arthur was, though her husband was no slouch, and she herself was no fighter. With the twins moving out, that left only Ginny of her other children in the house. Harry would probably be able to protect Ron better than his own parents could; though it upset her to admit so.

"As long as you promise to floo call me every day Ronald, and don't go gallivanting off in muggle London all the time, you can spend the summer here with Harry."

"Thanks mom!" Ron grabbed his mother in a hug.

"Let's go home so you can pack up your things and then I'll drop you off."

"Hold on a second," Harry cried, racing from the room. He ran up to his bedroom, grabbed the master ward stone and came storming back down. He held out the piece of bone to both of the Weasleys.

"Just add a drop of blood and your both keyed into the wards."

With a prod of her wand, Mrs. Weasley gave herself a tiny cut on her finger, blood rising to the surface. She wiped her finger on the stone, which flashed white for a second before the blood appeared to be sucked into the master stone. Ron held out his finger, not knowing how to perform such a small cut, and repeated the process.

It was a little over an hour that Harry was by himself, waiting for the return of Ron. When they returned Ron carried his trunk with him, along with his school bag hung over his shoulder. Mrs. Weasley carried several trays of food.

"These are leftovers from last night, as well as whatever I could whip up in an hour. If you boys need any more food, don't hesitate to ask for it."

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," Harry murmured, staring at all the food.

"Remember to be safe! "

Ron rolled his eyes, probably having heard such a statement countless times from his mum since they left to get his things.

"Don't worry mom. We'll be careful, I promise."

As soon as Mrs. Weasley left, Ron turned toward Harry with a grin on his face. "So what does this summer have in store for us?"

"Let's get you settled in first." Harry indicated the hallway. "There are two bedrooms down here. Pick which one you want."

Ron looked into both rooms, similar in layout and size, just different in color scheme. He decided to go with the room Sirius had used, the one with the bolder looking colors. Ron was a lot like Sirius, if a tamer version. Harry didn't think anyone could be as wild as Sirius Black.

Harry helped Ron put away some clothes and put up his obnoxiously orange Chudley Cannon posters. They talked about non-important things like the Quidditch standings and the fact that the Puddlemere United keeper had stated he would be retiring after this year, giving Oliver Wood the role of starter next season. It was obvious Ron wanted to talk about what to expect from the summer, but was waiting for Harry to broach the subject.

"I've joined a gym." Ron shot Harry a questioning look. "It's a muggle place filled with the equipment we used to work out last year in the Room of Requirement. Except they have a lot more machines, some we didn't even use in the Room."

"I was worried I wouldn't be able to do enough to keep in shape while at the Burrow," Ron stated. "I've been doing running and stuff but it feels weird not using all those weights and other things."

"Trust me, this place has everything. They even offer some fighting classes I'm probably going to sign up for. Want me to bring you, to get a membership?"

"Yeah, what are the fighting classes?"

As Harry led Ron to the gym he had joined, he told him about the three fighting styles. How boxing only used fist in its fighting style. How kickboxing, Japanese kickboxing to be more specific for the class being taught, used fist, elbow, feet and knees to strike an opponent. How jujutsu relied more on throwing, joint-locking and strangling to subdue opponents, since it was created to take down a heavily armed and armored opponent when lacking in weapons.

Harry gave Ron the money to pay for the membership and the fighting classes. It was an awkward moment between the two, when Harry slipped Ron the money but after a silent conversation, Ron accepted the money. Ron signed up for boxing and kick boxing, while Harry signed up for kickboxing and jujutsu. Boxing was to be held Monday and Thursday nights. Kickboxing was to be held Sunday and Wednesday nights. Jujutsu was to be held Tuesday and Friday nights.

"I appreciate the money and everything Harry, but I feel uncomfortable accepting all this money from you."

Harry nodded his head, knowing how much Ron hated being poor and how he hated accepting what he called charity from others even more. "You could get a job you know. Work a few hours a week for spending money. If not the magical world, then definitely the muggle world."

Ron scratched his chin as he thought about it. "I told my mom I wouldn't go gallivanting off in the muggle world, so probably the magical one. Though to be fair I've already signed up for a membership at a muggle gym."

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he led Ron to the little café he had visited a few days ago. He led his friend to the table he sat at last time, noticing that Brandy was working again. He waited for her to hand them a menu, Harry accepting it this time and take their order for drinks, Harry having to order for Ron; "What's pumpkin juice?"

Once Brandy walked away to put their orders through, Harry turned toward Ron and rolled his eyes. "You really are clueless about the muggle world huh?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders in return. "How am I supposed to know what a Pepsi is? Strange name if you ask me."

Harry wanted to point out the wizarding world had much stranger names but decided not to comment. He had to fill Ron in on what he would be up to this summer. He would be doing things that might leave Ron on his own for a day or two, and had conveniently forgot to mention it when Mrs. Weasley was around.

"I thought I'd let you know, I'll be gone a few times during vacation. Moody wants me to recruit members for the Order, since I'd know a lot of recent Hogwarts graduates. Not to mention, I think he wants to use my image as the Boy-Who-Lived to convince people."

"Are you a member?" Ron asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice as he looked over his menu.

"Moody said I am but I think it is more to placate me to get me to recruit members. He said I'm his eyes and ears in Hogwarts, which means he probably wants me to keep an eye on future Death Eaters, maybe let him know which ones will be joining Voldemort when out of school. Doubt I'll go to meetings or participate in operations."

Their drinks were handed to them and they each placed their order, Harry flirting a little with Brandy. Ron noticed the playfulness in Harry's voice, and raised an eyebrow at his best friend. Harry gave him a look and a shrug of his shoulders.

"So do you have a list of who you're going to recruit?"

"I got about two dozen names. Some of them are out of the country though."

"Anyone I know?"

Harry looked around carefully. An elderly couple was sitting off in the corner opposite them. Brandy and the older waitress were talking at the register. Still, that didn't mean they were being overheard. Harry discreetly drew his wand and cast a simple privacy ward.

"Well I can't recruit Ministry members and I've heard Jeff Summerby and Alicia Spinnet have both applied for Hit Wizard training so I can't ask them. I'm going to ask Angelina sometime soon. She has a Quidditch tryout in three days; I think the Harpies, Bats and Cannons will all have representatives there. At least that's what Fred and George told me. I'm going to wait until after the tryout to ask her, so as not to distract her. I'm going to ask Oliver tomorrow, after his Puddlemere practice. Lee Jordan got an internship at a wireless station; I think he wants to host his own show. I'm gonna have the twins set up a meeting with him. You remember Patricia Stimpson and Andrew Kirke?"

Ron's face scrunched up for a second. "Didn't they just graduate? Gryffindors right? Stimpson was president of the Charms Club right?"

"Yeah that's her. She helped me with my Charm work during the tournament at Flitwick's suggestion. She has a pretty fast wand too. And Kirke use to play pickup games with us, as a beater. He's a pretty good duelist; I think top 10 of his class. I don't think you'd know the rest."

"That's it?" Ron asked. "I'd thought you'd be asking more of the former Gryffindors."

"Moody wants fighters. I trained Angelina and Lee. Kirke and Stimpson are both talented. Wood fought in the junior dueling tournament his sixth and seventh years. Half of the Gryffindors aren't really fighters, and the ones that are have recently joined the Ministry as Aurors, Hit Wizards and Auxiliaries, especially since the war is starting up again and the requirements to start training have been lessened."

Harry noticed Brandy coming with their food and quickly dispelled the privacy ward over them. She placed their food on the table in front of them and left with a smile. As they ate they made small talk about things they could do this summer, to keep themselves entertained. Harry suggested going to the movies or maybe bowling. Being sixteen years old meant they were in that in between age of doing things. Ron wanted to try the muggle clubs he had heard Bill and Charlie talk about. Harry told him they were only for people of age, which they were two years away from being.

"Can't we just get the goblins to get us stuff to say we're of age?" Ron asked.

"I don't think the goblins can legally falsify a license like that. Although there are muggles who can make us fake ids, if we really want one."

Ron nodded his head and took a large bite of his burger. "I think we should. Bill and Charlie use to rave about them when I was younger. Sounds like it would be fun."

"I'll warn you, there is dancing at these clubs but its different then what we saw during the Yule ball," Harry pointed out.

Ron made a face at the thought of dancing, even if he was wondering exactly what type of dancing Harry was referring to. They finished eating, Harry throwing money on the table, before leaving. When they got back to the flat, Harry decided to see what Neville was up to.

"Longbottom Manor!"

Harry stuck his head in the fire as it turned green. His head appeared in the fireplace of a very formal looking lounge. Everything in the room looked very expensive and decorative and Harry wasn't sure if people were actually meant to sit on the couches. A house-elf wearing a tea cozy popped into the room.

"Can I be helping you sirs?"

"I was wondering if I could speak with Neville, is he around?"

"Who is asking sirs?"

"Harry Potter."

The house-elf squeaked, his eyes widening as he gazed upon Harry. With a snap of his fingers the house-elf vanished from the room, leaving Harry frowning. He wondered if the house-elf was getting Neville, getting an autograph book or having a heart attack.

It was a few minutes later that Neville entered the room, a look of amusement on his face. "Apparently my house-elf is honored to have the great Harry Potter's head appear in his family's fireplace."

"The honor is all mine, I can assure you," Harry answered, grinning.

"How's your summer been so far Harry? Good I hope."

"Excellent actually. It's one of the reasons I'm here. I'm living in a flat in London. Ron just moved in as my second roommate and I was wondering if you wanted to join us? I have an extra bedroom."

Neville looked to be mulling it over. "I'll have to ask Gran. She might even want to speak with you," Neville warned.

"I've faced Voldemort, I'm sure I can handle your grandmother."

"Don't be so sure of that Mr. Potter," a stern voiced sounded.

Neville turned quickly in surprise as an old and tall woman entered the lounge. She looked to be in her late forties, which in the wizarding world indicated she was probably around seventy-five. She wore the green dress Harry had seen on the Snape-boggart in their third year. She was rather bony but carried herself in a way that indicated power and a deep pride.

"Hello Mrs. Longbottom, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"And you as well Mr. Potter. I have heard a lot about you from Neville. He looks up to you."

Although Neville was turned from him, Harry could see the redness on the teen's neck, indicating his embarrassment. "Neville is a very capable wizard in his own right Mrs. Longbottom. You should have seen him in the Forbidden Forest. The way he charged a Death Eater who had just injured his friend, it was very brave."

Augusta smiled fondly at her grandson. "I always worried he would be too weak to stand up for himself and his beliefs but I see now that it was never about him being weak, it was about him not believing in himself, which I am sad to say I didn't help. I'd like to thank you Mr. Potter, for helping Neville become confident in himself and to shake any self-doubt I had caused."

"I just gave him a shove, he did the rest." Harry paused, realizing it was probably uncomfortable for Neville to be talked about like he wasn't even in the room. "I just popped in to see if Neville could spend the summer with me at my flat in London. Ron Weasley is here as well. It has been warded by the best Gringotts has to offer, so it is very safe."

"I would love to go Gran," Neville chimed in.

"Neville told me all about the training last year, would you be continuing it?" Mrs. Longbottom asked, looking at Harry critically.

"Well I won't be getting private lessons again so we'll be learning as we go, but yes I do plan on continuing the training."

"Neville has told me he wishes to be a Hit-Wizard, not exactly like his parents, but still a job to be proud of. This training will definitely give him a boost in that regard and I want him to achieve his dreams. Besides, maybe it is time he spends a summer having fun instead of spending it with his stuffy, old grandmother."

"Thanks Gran!" Neville cried, as he stepped forward and hugged his grandmother. For the first time Harry noticed that Neville, who was about the same height as his tall grandmother, had hit a growth spurt over the past year.

"The fireplace is too small for floo travel, so how about Ron and I meet you at the Leaky Cauldron in two hours?"

Neville nodded his head enthusiastically. "That sounds great Harry."

"It was nice meeting you Mrs. Longbottom."

"Stop by any time you need help Mr. Potter. The Longbottoms and Potters have been allies since your grandfather saved my husband's life during the war against Grindelwald. Whenever you need assistance, I will try to provide it."

"Thank you ma'am," Harry stated before pulling his head from the fireplace.

When he turned from the fireplace, he saw that Ron was standing in front of the television and prodding it with his wand. Harry walked over to the coffee table where the remote sat and grabbed the piece of plastic. He pressed the power button, causing the telly to turn on. Ron jumped back from the box as an image appeared and sound started playing, a curse half-way out his mouth before he heard Harry laughing behind him.

"Merlin mate! Don't scare a bloke like that! Is this that fellyvision thing dad talks about?"Ron indicated the television.

"It's called a television Ron."

"Television," Ron murmured, prodding the tv one more time with his wand.

Harry shook his head at his pureblood friend. "We're meeting Neville at the Leaky Cauldron in two hours. I think I want to try to recruit a new Order member tonight. He should be at Gringotts so if you guys are willing, we'll stop off there before coming back here. I think Neville would want to join the gym too, so we'll stop off there on the way back."

"Sounds good to me."

They watched television while they waited to meet up with Neville. Ron was fascinated by many of the different shows Harry flicked through, to show Ron what muggles had come up with. However, he was especially interested in the Discovery Channel and its show on predators of the world. Harry knew Ron was ready to take the potion to see if he could be an animagus, and Harry felt guilty for having forgotten about it. The redhead was probably thinking of all the cool animals he could potentially turn into. He told himself he would pick up the potion at the apothecary when they passed by it on the way to Gringotts.

Neville was sitting at the bar, drinking a butterbeer when they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. He patted his side pocket, indicating his trunk. Harry nodded his head, and told the teen his plan to visit Gringotts quick.

Harry stopped off at the apothecary quickly, dropping several galleons on the expensive potion to see if Ron could be an animagus. While they waited outside, Ron told Neville all about the gym and fighting classes he and Harry had signed up for. Neville was interested in signing the gym, like Harry guessed he would be.

"Just wish we had more room to practice dueling," Harry muttered, thinking about all the duels, including group duels, they had fought in the Room of Requirement.

"Why don't you rent out one of the dueling chambers at the Gryffindor Arena?" Neville asked.

Ron smacked himself in the forehead as if reprimanding himself for something. Harry looked between the two in confusion.

"Gryffindor Arena?"

"I can't believe I forgot about that," Ron exclaimed, shaking his head. "The Gryffindor Arena is a dueling arena here in Diagon Alley. It has several practice chambers in it, which can be rented out. You just have to sign contracts agreeing not to use anything on its list of banned spells."

"I've never seen such a place."

"Of course you won't if you only stay on the main road Harry. There are several side roads here in Diagon Alley. A few of them are filled with dozens of townhouses and a few of them have more shops and businesses. Gryffindor Arena is located on Eagle Street. The new Hit Wizard Headquarters was actually built next to Gryffindor Arena," Neville explained.

Harry absorbed the information, once again reminded of his general ignorance of the wizarding world. "Do you guys mind if we stop off on the way back? I want to check the place out."

"No problem," Neville replied for the both of them.

"You do know Bill and Fleur are already in the Order right?" Ron asked as they walked up the steps to Gringotts.

"Order?" Neville asked, curiously.

"I know Ron; I'm not here for them. We'll tell you about it when we get back to the flat Neville."

Harry approached an empty line and stopped in front of the goblin. The shorter creature stared at him with beady eyes, waiting for Harry to speak.

"I was wondering if I could speak with Michael Patterson please."

The goblin stared at him for a second before pointing toward a hallway. "Fifth door on the right."

"Thank you," Harry stated, bowing slightly before walking off.

"Michael Patterson? Why does that name sound familiar?" Ron asked as he and Neville trailed behind Harry.

Harry looked over his shoulder. "He was Bill's apprentice for two years."

"Oh yeah, that's right. He was with Bill when we visited him the summer after second year."

Harry knocked on the door that read 'Michael Patterson' with the title 'Curse Breaker' written underneath it. A muffled "come in" had him turning the door knob and pushing open the door.

Michael's office was filled with various pictures of a people, probably friends and family. Several shelves were filled with dozens of books, as well as cool looking trinkets and various souvenirs from Egyptian tombs and Babylonian catacombs. Michael sat behind his desk, his legs propped up on his desk.

"Harry! Good to see you mate!" Michael dropped his feet from his desk and rose to shake Harry's hand.

"Michael, it's great to see you too man. I don't know if you remember Ron, Bill's youngest brother," Harry nodded to Ron, "and this is Neville Longbottom," Harry nodded at Neville.

"Of course I remember Ron. And it's nice to meet you Neville. Please, sit down."

Michael waved his hand at the two chairs in front of his desk. Harry waved his wand and conjured a third chair, similar looking to the other two.

"How have you been since the tournament?" Harry asked.

"Good. Mostly been stuck here at Gringotts though. They're nervous about this whole war thing and are trying to keep all hands on deck, in case things start going down. I've been itching to get out of here and explore some tombs somewhere."

Harry nodded sympathetically at that statement, knowing the feeling of being cooped up and how much he hated it. "I wish I could say this is a friendly visit but I didn't stop off to catch up."

"I should have known it wasn't my good looks that brought you here."

Harry grinned at Michael's comment. "No, although they did greatly sway me. As you know Voldemort is back."

Michael snorted. "Kind of hard not to know mate."

"True. Anyway, it isn't just the Ministry that is fighting Voldemort. There are others who fight him; a group. This group is looking for others who are willing to stand up to the Death Eaters, who will take action when no one else will. With the Ministry pulling their heads out of their asses, this group has lost half of its members and is looking for new recruits."

Michael had an unreadable look on his face as he rubbed his chin. Harry waited with bated breath, hoping his friend would accept the offer. Harry wanted to tell him that Bill and Fleur were members, knowing that his friendship with two of the members would sway Michael's opinion but he didn't want to give away members names, especially if Michael turned down the offer.

"What does this group do exactly?" Michael asked, after almost two minutes of silence.

"They watch Death Eater movements, try to gather information and when necessary assist in battles against the Death Eaters."

There was another long moment of silence as Harry watched Michael anxiously.

"I do want to help in this war. I was thinking of quitting this job and joining the Hit-Wizards but too be honest I love curse breaking too much. This seems like the perfect opportunity to do what I love and assist like I wanted."

Harry gave a sigh in relief and withdrew one of the envelopes Moody had given him at King's Cross five days ago. He handed it to Michael, who opened it cautiously. He first pulled out the pendant inside, staring at the red and gold phoenix pendant hanging from a small gold chain. He set the pendant on the desk and pulled out the contract, which he read over carefully. With a shrug of his shoulders, he signed the contract. A soft red glow enveloped Michael for a second before disappearing. Michael took out the last thing in the envelope, a parchment with directions written on it.

Harry reached over and grabbed the contract, folding it up and putting it in his robe pocket. He had read the contract several times; after all he did sign one himself. It swore the signer to secrecy on anything having to do with the Order, including its members, the various locations having to do with it and its operations. "In case you're curious, both Bill and Fleur are in it."

Michael looked up, a hint of shock on his face. "Really? Well Bill I can see, what with his family's participation in the war so far but Fleur is a surprise. Although, I guess it really isn't that surprising after her little speech at dinner while we were in Finland."

"Yeah, they've been members for over a year now. When you feel the pendant heat up, just follow the directions to the Order's headquarters."

Harry stood up, indicating he was probably leaving. Ron and Neville followed his example, standing as well. Neither had said anything throughout the entire stay, not wanting to draw away from Harry's natural charisma and leadership. Michael stood and reached across his desk to shake Harry's hand.

"Thanks for giving me this opportunity to help out Harry."

"No thank you for having the courage to stand up and take a stand against the darkness that threatens our world, Michael. Many people are too afraid to do what you are doing."

"It's because of you Harry. You're my hero!" Michael fluttered his eyes at Harry, causing the teen to laugh.

"I'll see you around. And try to make sure Bill doesn't get strangled by anymore mummy children. I'm sure his mom won't appreciate it."

Michael slapped a salute. "Aye captain, that is if they send us out into the field again anytime soon. I swear I thought the goblins weren't such pansies when I signed up to be a Gringotts Curse Breaker."

* * *

The next day found Harry waiting in the stands for Puddlemere to finish their practice. Apparently Lee was doing a spot on the upcoming Quidditch season for the radio show he was interning on and would be visiting the training camps of each team that summer. The twins had convinced their former partner in crime to start with Puddlemere, where they knew Harry would be. Harry had sent a note to both of them, saying he wanted to meet them after the practice.

Yesterday, after leaving Gringotts with Michael's contract in hand, the three friends stopped off at Gryffindor Arena. Harry ended up renting the biggest dueling chamber they had for the rest of the summer, every Monday and Thursday. He planned on sending an invite to everyone he trained with last year, telling them if they wished to continue improving on their skills, he, Ron and Neville would be there and that they were welcome to join them.

However, the letters to the thirty-five people would have to wait, as he was on Order business. Lee was the first one to appear. He had shaven off his dreads since Harry saw him last on the train a week ago. While Lee always had an outrageous sense of fashion, at the moment he had on a more subdued look, probably due to his job.

"Wotcher Harry."

"What's going on Lee?"

"Not much. Fred and George told me you had something important to talk to me about."

Harry nodded his head. While Lee was friendly, the two of them weren't really friends. They were acquaintances who never seemed to hit it off like Harry and everyone else, or Lee and everyone else seemed to. It just seemed like there was something that was preventing the two usually friendly people from becoming friends.

"I'd rather wait for Oliver to get here, so I don't have to explain it twice."

Lee nodded his head and sat down next to Harry. They sat in silence for fifteen minutes before Oliver emerged from the locker room.

"Young Harry!" Oliver cried, approaching the two. "Good to see you again."

Harry rolled his eyes at Oliver. "I'm sixteen Oliver and I'm pretty sure I could kick your butt. Must you insist on the Young Harry?"

"Young Harry is much more violent then I remember," Oliver whispered loudly to Lee.

Harry knew that the older Gryffindor Quidditch team members had kept in contact with Oliver after he graduated, and it made sense that Lee would have too, being such a good friend of the Weasley twins. That probably explained why Oliver and Lee didn't share much of a greeting. They've probably seen each other multiple times throughout the two years since Oliver's graduation.

Harry spent a moment catching up with Oliver, trading Quidditch stories and the like. When Harry was younger he had kind of looked up to Oliver, who was popular, athletic and taught Harry a lot of things throughout the three years he captained the green-eyed seeker, and not all about Quidditch.

"So what is the good word sir? I'm sure you didn't ask to see the both of us to catch up with me," Oliver inquired after a good ten minutes of catching up.

"Right, sorry just got off track. Voldemort is back." They both flinched at the name. "While the Ministry under Dumbledore is actually competent, they aren't the only ones standing up to the Death Eaters. There are others who won't stand by as our world is threatened. This group is looking for members to join its rank, those who aren't part of the Ministry but won't sit by idly as their world is attacked. I was asked to help recruit members. To find those who I thought would want to take a stand and ask them to join."

Oliver raised his eyebrows in surprise while Lee nodded as if it made sense. Lee had been attacked by Pucey and his goons back in December. He had been in the hospital wing for two weeks recovering from his injuries. It is what made him decide to join Harry and his friends in their training. If what the twins said were true, Lee was still pissed off at what happened to him and wanted to make the Death Eaters pay.

"I'm in," Lee stated, only taking a moment to think about it.

Oliver looked at Lee in surprise for a second before he rubbed the back of his head. "This involves fighting Death Eaters and everything doesn't it?"

"Yeah, amongst other things."

Oliver sighed. "I haven't dueled in two years. I guess I'll have to brush up on it huh?"

"So you'll join?" Harry asked, a hopeful expression on his face.

"Of course I'll join. I'm a Gryffindor aren't I?"

It was a rhetorical question so Harry didn't answer. He pulled out two of the Order recruitment envelopes and explained to the two former Gryffindors what everything was for. They both handed him their signed contracts as he explained to them briefly what he knew of the Order. How Moody was its leader and Professors Flitwick, McGonagall and Hagrid all being members. It was about twenty minutes of discussing things before Harry left the two, flooing back to the Leaky Cauldron so he could walk home.


	3. Summer

Forgive me for my lateness. Apparently the MicrosoftWord I was using on my new laptop was a trial version that ran out sometime in February. For some reason that put me into a severe writing block for this story and I instead focused my attenton on my college career. And when I say college career, I don't mean classwork; I mean partying. However, another semester has ended and although I'm taking summer classes, the absurd always having a party to go to that you usually have during the semester, is not so during summer in the town of my college. Therefor I should have more time to work on this story. This chapter is a little rough. I just want to get it published so I can move on. Chapter 5 is where it is at. I just need to get there!

Just some facts from the last story people might not remember:

Aurors are detectives. They investigate crimes, track down criminals and the like. While they are skilled fighters, they aren't the Ministry's main fighting force. Current numbers are 49 Aurors with 13 more in training.

Hit-Wizards are like S.W.A.T. (CO19 in the United Kingdom). They are (currently) the best fighters the Ministry has and are the ones who primarily deal with Death Eater attacks and other dangerous, dark wizards. Current numbers are 66 with 6 more in training.

Auxiliaries (formerly Magical Law Enforcement Squad members) are like the police. They normally handle petty criminals like Mundungus Fletcher. They are the ones typically assigned guard duty at places like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Current numbers are 74 with 20 more in training.

Chapter 3 Summer

Two weeks later and Harry was feeling pretty good about himself. He had visited fifteen other people and had gotten seven of them to join the Order. Angelina Johnson, Andrew Kirke and Patricia Stimpson had only taken a moment to convince. Jill Dorny and Steve Capper were a little harder to convince and he felt bad having to use Cedric to guilt them into signing the contract. Both of them were former Hufflepuffs and good friends of Cedric, and Harry had spoken to them a few times when he and Cedric had bonded over the stress of the tournament during his fourth year.

Bryan Dunston was a Ravenclaw from Wood's class who had joined the dueling circuit. Harry had never spoken to the bloke before but Oliver had insisted he was a good fighter. Harry was pretty sure Bryan joined because he thought battling Death Eaters would improve his dueling. Kasey Bundy was a Slytherin who graduated a year ago. He was a muggle-born who had been constantly picked on his entire time at Hogwarts by his fellow housemates. He wanted to show the purebloods that muggle-borns were just as good.

Harry was having Moody and McGonagall over to hand over the contracts and discuss other recruits he was looking into. Several of them were from other countries, and he didn't know if Moody wanted to expand the Order into the mainland, or keep it in the United Kingdom. McGonagall was coming because she was second in command in the Order and if Mad-Eye wanted to keep the Order national, he might need her help getting the foreigners to the United Kingdom.

The knock on the door alerted him to the arrival of the two Order members. Ron and Neville were at boxing lessons, Neville having signed up for all three fighting classes. Harry knew Ron wanted to join the Order, and having the teen around when a meeting between several Order members was going on, and excluding him, might not have been a good idea.

Harry opened the door with his wand drawn. "Prove who you are."

Mad-Eye laughed. "Constant Vigilance! I helped teach you tactics and strategy at the insistence of Dumbledore."

Harry nodded his head before turning toward McGonagall. She looked around for a second before changing into her cat form. No one could replicate an animagus form; polyjuice let you look like the person, not inherit their magical abilities.

"I formerly invite Professor McGonagall and Mad-Eye Moody into my flat," Harry stated.

He stepped back and allowed the two to enter; Professor McGonagall changing back into her human form upon entering. Moody's magical eye was going crazy as it spun wildly in his socket. Harry moved over to the sitting area and sat in an arm chair. McGonagall sat on one of the couches while Moody just stood, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Alright Potter, what's your reason for inviting us here?" Moody asked gruffly.

Harry grabbed the stack of contracts on the coffee table in front of him and held them out. McGonagall reached out and took them, examining the signatures. "Wood, Jordan, Johnson, Stimpson and Kirke," the Professor muttered, looking at the names of her former Gryffindors.

"So you already have me new members. How many?"

"Ten," Harry stated. "I asked eighteen but the rest of them are trying to avoid the war now and nothing I could say would convince them they couldn't. I still have at least one more in the United Kingdom and several on the continent I want to ask. Do you want to expand the Order or keep it national?"

Moody and McGonagall shared a look. "We think it best if we just focus on the United Kingdom. So far Voldemort hasn't expanded to other countries and we want to focus on our own homes before worrying about others," McGonagall explained.

"Not to mention I don't think I would be able to run that large of an organization. The threat is here, so let us deal with it here."

Harry nodded his head. He could understand their logic. "Alright that makes sense. With Kingsley being recalled to the Ministry, do you have a new dueling professor?"

"I was giving the post to Alastor here."

Harry looked at Mad-Eye in a little surprise. He figured after the last time the ex-Auror was suppose to be a professor, he wouldn't accept the role of teacher again. "Some of the people I was going to ask were friends and opponents from the Junior Dueling Tournament. If I could offer them a job and a place to stay, it would be easier to convince them to come here."

"Like the dueling professor at Hogwarts," McGonagall stated, understanding where Harry was going with this.

"Exactly. Not only would you have the class being taught by professional duelist, you would have Order members and good fighters for extra security in the school."

McGonagall looked at Alastor who merely shrugged his shoulders. "I was only doing the job as a favor to you Minerva."

"Well I have been looking to increase the security around the school. Hired security and trained animals were being looked into already."

Harry perked up at that. "Trained animals? Who would be looking after them?"

"I was going to have Hagrid do it," the Professor explained.

"One of my friends from the dueling tournament is a magizoologist who works with the more dangerous animals."

"It looks like you'll have your hands full for a while Potter. Tell these friends of yours to get in contact with me if they are interested. If they will join the Order I'm more than willing to offer them jobs."

McGonagall stood up, nodding to Harry as she did so. Moody walked up to Harry and held out his hand.

"Good job Potter. Thanks to you we're quickly approaching the numbers we had last war."

Harry shook the ex-Auror's hand. "No problem Mad-Eye."

As the two Order members left the flat his two roommates came back from their boxing lesson.

"What was that about?" Ron asked, nodding to the door.

"Just handing Mad-Eye the contracts for the new members. I also talked to McGonagall about offering jobs to some foreign witches and wizards so they have a reason to come to the United Kingdom and help in the fight."

"Did you talk to them about me joining?"

Harry rolled his eyes, having had this discussion with Ron on multiple occasions. Ron had taken the Animagus potion and had discovered he had the ability to change into an animal. Ron had been ecstatic of course, but the new found ability had also given the red-head an ego boost. Ron was thinking pretty highly of himself the past few days and his increase in dueling skill wasn't helping matters.

Harry rented out the largest practice chamber in the Gryffindor Arena every Monday and Thursday. He invited everyone he used to train during the school year to join him, as well as the Order members he had just recruited; to help them brush up on their fighting.

Alicia and Jeff were too busy going through the extensive training needed to be Hit-Wizards. Fred and George were hard at work coming up with ideas to help in the fight for the Ministry. Parvati and Padma were visiting relatives in India. Oliver made it whenever Quidditch practice didn't interfere. Bryan Dunston trained almost every day with a personal trainer. Other than that everyone else showed up, ready to train.

Ron, who used to be around the middle of the pack when it came to dueling, had gotten a lot better. Harry assumed that before, though Ron took the training seriously, he never realized the true necessity of it until the incident in the Forbidden Forest. That incident had added fuel to the fire burning in Ron and he had become even more dedicated to improving. What Ron failed to realize was that he would still get bested by someone like Adrian Pucey in a duel, let alone an inner circle member. Hell Harry couldn't even take on an inner circle member and if he was being honest with himself, he was much better than Ron.

* * *

Harry leaned casually against the lamppost, hands shoved into his pockets and his hood drawn over his head. Hogsmeade may not have been as populated as Diagon Alley, especially this late in the evening, but that didn't mean he wanted anyone recognizing him. It wasn't that he was trying to be stealthy; it was just that he didn't want to be mobbed by reporters or flocked by the public since he was a 'hero' again.

He stared intently at the public apparition spot where he was expecting someone to arrive any minute. Problem was the person wasn't expecting him and he knew it must look suspicious for him to be standing there with his hood up in such dark times.

"Turn around, slowly."

Harry frowned. He hadn't even realized someone had approached him. That wasn't acceptable. He was supposed to be more aware of his surroundings. He glanced over his shoulder and saw one of the patrolling Auxiliaries, his wand drawn, standing behind him.

Harry turned slowly, not wanting to get in a confrontation. He supposed he could try to take on the law enforcement official but not over something as stupid as loitering.

"Lower your hood."

Harry grimaced but brought his hands up and slowly lowered the cloth from around his head. The Auxiliary's face went from hostile to shock as he took in the sight of the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Lord Potter," the man stuttered.

Harry grimaced at the title of Lord. Most people didn't use it unless in a formal setting, like Ministry held balls and Wizengamot sessions, but pureblood aristocrats used it almost all the time. The man must have been a pureblood. "Sorry about the hood but I had hoped to go unnoticed."

"Understandable Lord Potter. Please, forgive me for the mix up but you can never be too sure now a days."

"It's alright. Better to be safe than sorry."

The man nodded his head before walking off quickly, muttering to himself as he did so. Harry shook his head and turned back toward the apparition point. There was a loud 'crack' as a female appeared out of nowhere. Harry immediately recognized her as the woman he was seeking. The same woman he had bested in the second round of the dueling tournament. She lived in Hogsmeade and was coming home from her job, where she worked as a Spell Crafter at a private company.

An Auxiliary checked the woman over, making sure she wasn't a threat. Once it was clear she wasn't one, they allowed her to pass.

"Ms. Joyce, if I could have a moment of your time."

Helen Joyce turned in surprise, finally noticing Harry. "Harry Potter? If you're here on behalf of Dumbledore the answer is still no."

Harry blinked, wondering if Dumbledore had approached her about joining the Order back when he still ran it.

"I like where I work and I'm not going to quit so I can join the Ministry at a lower salary."

"No, I'm not here on behalf of Dumbledore, though I find it odd you'd think I'd be working for him."

Helen shrugged her shoulders. "Everyone knows your Dumbledore's man."

Harry frowned a little at that. While it was true he would consider Dumbledore his mentor, he didn't consider himself Dumbledore's man. "I'm here to ask you to join something else. It will only take a minute; I assure you. Plus you won't have to quit your job."

"You can walk me to my house then and tell me your offer on the way."

* * *

"Are you sure that's him?"

"Did you even look? Of course it's him! Everyone knows what Potter looks like. And he's with a Weasley and the Longbottom heir; known associates of Potter."

The two Death Eaters peered out from the alley, squinting through their white mask. Behind them another five Death Eaters waited anxiously. This had been a sudden idea of theirs, after one of them had spotted Harry Potter entering a muggle gym a little over an hour ago. They had tried to get in contact with their Lord or one of the higher ranking Death Eaters but none were available. So they decided to take matters into their own hands, hoping to capture Potter and present him as a gift to the Dark Lord.

It was another fifteen minutes before the three Gryffindors exited the gym. Each wore a pair of shorts and a sweat-soaked t-shirt, bottles of water clutched in their hands. None of them appeared to have their wands on them but looks could be misleading. The more expensive wand holsters had invisibility charms on them.

"We have to move quickly. Too much magic in a muggle area will draw the attention of the Ministry. If they block the first attacks, spread out. Hit them from different angles."

* * *

"It's like for Merlin's sake why even bother wearing shorts at all if they don't even cover anymore of your arse then your underwear does?" Ron asked.

"You didn't seem to mind when she was bending over in front of you Ron," Harry pointed out, grinning.

The tip of Ron's ears turned pink. "That's beside the point mate!"

Neville gave Ron a shove and chuckled. "Muggles sure do wear less clothes then wizards do. I mean if my gran saw someone wearing that, she'd have a heart attack."

"I just think wizards are stuck in..." Harry trailed off and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

Harry shook his head, his shoulders tensing. He pushed Ron and Neville to the ground and jumped backwards. A wave of spells slammed into the storefront they were walking by, shattering glass. Shards of glass cut into Harry's exposed skin, making him wince in pain. Harry flicked his wrist, his wand jumping from its invisible holster into his hand. He could hear muggles screaming all around him, a handful of them in the shop and the rest fleeing in terror down the streets.

He got into a crouch, his wand out in front of him. Seven Death Eaters came out of an alley and began spreading out in front of him. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ron and Neville had their wands out and were in defensive positions, cuts littering their arms, legs and face from the broken glass.

"I'm the sword, you guys are the shield."

Ron and Neville nodded at his words. Being the sword meant Harry was the offense. Being the shield meant Ron and Neville were the defense. A series of curses started flying at the three teens. Harry twirled his wand, deflecting a handful of them back at their casters. As Ron and Neville took care of the rest of the spells Harry jabbed his wand at the Death Eater on the left.

A spear of light rocketed from his wand but was dodged by his opponent. The spell slammed into a glass door, shattering it. As Ron and Neville defended him from a barrage of hexes, Harry twisted his wand. The shattered glass rose into the air and flew at the nearest Death Eater. The robed wizard wasn't expecting the attack and got imbedded by several dozen pieces of glass of various sizes. With a short scream, the Death Eater collapsed to the ground, blood leaking from the many puncture wounds.

"Duck!" Neville shouted.

Harry and Ron both crouched as low as possible. The green light of the Killing Curse rocketed over their heads, the smell of decay filling their noses. The curse slammed into the store behind them, sending bricks flying.

"We need cover!" Harry shouted, glancing around the street which was devoid of cars. "Into the store!"

As one, the three friends threw themselves through the blown out storefront window. They landed in a heap on a tile floor covered in broken glass, which cut into their already scratched up skin. Harry glanced around and saw about half a dozen muggles huddled in the back corner. Curses started pouring into the shop from the Death Eaters, slamming into shelves and sending debris everywhere. Harry waved his wand and a small marble wall erected in front of the muggles, causing them to scream in terror.

"Stay behind the wall!" Harry shouted as one muggle tried to get up and run.

Ron poked his wand out and fired several curses blind. "We need to reevaluate our situation. Obviously the choice of this cover wasn't the best tactic as all the spell fire is keeping us from fighting back properly."

"We're in the middle of muggle London with Death Eaters flinging curses around." Harry pointed out. "I'm just waiting for the Hit Wizards to show."

Neville chanced a glance over the cover, ducking back down quickly. "Looks like they are thinking the same thing. They're moving in."

Harry blindly shoved his wand over the cover and fired off a few spells, hoping to slow down the Death Eaters. Ron and Neville followed his example.

"I don't think we should stay by the window. Let's move back some, to give us more room to move."

Harry followed Ron's advice and crawled backwards along the floor, ignoring the pain as rubble on the ground dug into his hands and knees. He ducked behind a knocked over shelf and moved into a crouch, easily able to see out the window and toward the advancing Death Eaters. Neville moved next, as Harry and Ron made sure no stray spells clipped their friend.

"It's been almost five minutes. I'm pretty sure it would take that long to walk to the Ministry from here. Where the hell are they?" Harry demanded.

Eight loud 'pops' filled the air, accompanied by a chorus of yells.

"_Stupefy_!"

"_Expulso_!"

"_Crucio_!"

"_Sectumsempra!_"

"Sanders is hit!"

"_Diffindo_!"

"_Ampeto_!"

Five more 'pops' echoed throughout the area as the yells stopped. Harry looked out from his cover and saw eight Hit Wizards, one of them wounded badly. Two unconscious Death Eaters lay on the ground, including the one Harry had stuck with glass. The Hit Wizard that was obvious the leader of the group moved forward and examined the area.

"Jackson, get Sanders to St. Mungo's. Kendall, contact the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. I want at least three Obliviator teams and a Repair squad on the scene as soon as possible. And tell the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee to start thinking of something. Samson, get some squad members to take these two Death Eaters to St. Mungo's. I want them under heavy restraints and a guard."

The only female member of the grabbed the wounded man by the arm and they both disappeared with a loud 'crack!' A short, burly man with a bald head and a tall, lanky fellow with a thick beard, both disappeared as well.

Harry, Ron and Neville stood from their cover and started to make their way out of the shop.

"What the hell compelled Death Eaters to attack muggle London in broad daylight?" a Hit-Wizard asked.

"That would be because of me," Harry stated, holding his hands up as five wands became trained on him.

"Harry Potter," the leader breathed out. "What are you doing out in muggle London?"

"I was at the muggle gym down the road. I live a few blocks from here," Harry explained.

"Ruddy slow getting here, don't you think?" Ron asked.

One of the Hit-Wizards gave an apologetic shrug. "We're still working out the kinks in the new headquarters. Information is delayed in getting to us. Our usual response time is a minute, not six."

"Can you tell me exactly what happened?" the leader of the Hit-Wizards asked.

Harry let Ron and Neville tell the man everything he needed to know. Instead, he stood there in thought; it was obvious the Death Eaters knew where he went to workout. It would be irresponsible of him to keep going there. Unless he could somehow work it where no one magical would know he still went there. Maybe a disguise or if he could get a portkey that went straight into the locker room. It would be a shame to abandon the gym after only one month.

"A glamour that works on witches and wizards but not muggles."

Ron, Neville and the Hit-Wizard turned toward Harry with looks of confusion on their faces. The Boy-Who-Lived had remained quiet during the entire retelling of events until his seemingly random comment.

"What are you talking about mate?" Ron asked.

Harry scratched the back of his head and gave the three a sheepish look. "Just a thought I had."

The Hit-Wizard looked as if he wished to continue the conversation but various witches and wizards began appearing out of no-where. Obliviators, Auxiliaries and clean up crews all began to perform their duties with speed and precision. The Auxiliaries, six in total, grabbed the two immobile Death Eaters and disappeared with them. The Obliviators, five teams of two, spread out and started altering the minds of the muggles that had gathered in the area. The repair squad started fixing the damage done by all the spell fire.

"If our names could be left out of the Daily Prophet, that would be greatly appreciated," Harry murmured, eying the magical people who shuffled around him.

"I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Harry tried to look it up but he couldn't find a glamour charm that would hide their true faces from magical persons but not from muggles. It had been two days since the attack and neither he nor Ron and Neville had been back to the gym. He supposed they could just find a new gym or even go to the same one in disguises but it was the principle of the matter. He didn't want to change his entire life because of some stupid Death Eaters. He had become friends with several of the other patrons, as well as several of the workers and wanted to continue with his friendships.

The Daily Prophet ran several articles on the attack, since it was the first one since the battles in Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest. Their names had been left out of the paper, which meant Mrs. Weasley didn't know of the attack. Harry felt guilty not telling the Weasley matriarch of the attack but it wasn't like they were exactly lying; they were just not volunteering information they knew she would probably want to know.

It was his birthday today, as well as Neville's. A joint party was being thrown at Longbottom Manor for them in celebration. Sirius and Remus, who he had only seen on a few occasions over the past month, assured him they would both be there. Sirius, as a Senior Hit-Wizard was busy chasing down leads on Death Eaters, most of which turned out to be false information given to the Department by a jumpy housewife. Remus, being the new head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, was always busy trying to revoke former laws discriminating against werewolves, goblins, centaurs and veelas and replace them with newer laws that demonstrated more tolerance. Harry had attended half a dozen Wizengamot meetings, trying his best to use his political might to help pass the laws Remus was pushing. While a good amount of the newer, lenient laws were vetoed, most of the harsher ones passed under Fudge and Umbridge had been revoked.

After his birthday Harry had plans to visit Spain and Belgium. He had mailed several of the duelist in the tournament he participated in to see if any of them might be interested in helping out against Voldemort. Only three of them had answered back positively. One of them lived in Spain and two of them lived in Belgium.

However, all plans involving the Order would have to wait. Today was suppose to be a day of celebration. The three males walked quickly to the Leaky Cauldron, looking around as they walked the streets. No point in being unprepared for another attack on them. They arrived at the grimy pub with no problems and floo'd to Longbottom Manor.

Five hours later, Harry twiddled with the Potter family ring and the Kingston family ring, both of which sat on his right hand. He supposed he could have also adorned the Black and Gryffindor heir rings but two rings was already enough for him. He surveyed the group of people that had made it to his and Neville's party. Almost everyone he had trained during the school year was present, as well as Michael Patterson and Oliver Wood. Hermione was still on vacation, which was just as well because dealing with one ex-girlfriend in Parvati was enough for him today. Anthony Golstein was still in St. Mungo's from being hit with the giant's club back in the Forbidden Forest. Wayne was still dead.

"What are you doing off in the corner by yourself?" Sirius asked, handing a butterbeer to his godson.

All the teens had played several games of Quidditch. They had talked each others ears off over anything that came to mind. They had gone swimming, and put on music to dance to. They had eaten enough food to feed a small army and enjoyed a cake that was almost as big as Harry was. The two birthday boys had opened their presents, thanking those who were kind enough to get them gifts.

"Just need some time away from everyone else," Harry stated, nodding his head to the various groups of teens that stood around talking. "I'm so use to being on my own, or just having Ron and Hermione at my side. Sometimes it still takes me by surprise that I have so many friends and allies."

"You got the Potter charm Harry, same as your father and your grandfather. It draws people to you. You'll just have to get use to the fact that you're not alone."

* * *

A few days later, before he would depart for the continent, Harry would learn that Voldemort had left him a birthday present. Sixteen muggles throughout the United Kingdom had been killed. They were of various age, race, ethnicity and gender. There were only two things each person had in common. They were all killed on their birthday, July 31st and all of them had a lightning bolt carved into their foreheads before their deaths. That was the second time Voldemort had "celebrated" a major event in Harry's life.

The first one was Halloween during the last school year. Voldemort had murdered fifteen people. Seven of them were males with dark hair and seven of them were females with red hair; all fourteen had the name 'Potter' carved into their chest. The fifteenth was a teenager around Harry's age who looked vaguely similar to the Boy-Who-Lived; a teenager who had a lightning bolt scar carved into his forehead and was hung from a tree.

The first one meant that it had been fourteen years since Voldemort had killed Harry's parents and failed to kill Harry, and that Voldemort wouldn't fail again; that Harry would end up dead. He wasn't sure what the second one meant, besides the death threat implications. Maybe it was an assurance that there wouldn't be a seventeenth birthday in Harry Potter's life. Either way, Harry knew he would never approach Voldemort about throwing anyone a surprise party.


	4. The Dumbledore Family

All ages listed are how old the people are in August, 1996. It is Dumbledore's family, and yes that means I made him straight.

Dumbledore is 115 years old.

Brother Aberforth is 110 years old. Bartender at Hog's Head. Never married.

Wife Alicia was killed in 1944 by Grindelwald's forces after 42 years of marriage. They married in 1902, when Dumbledore was 21.

Son Wulfric was killed in 1945 by Grindelwald at the age of 37, he wasn't married at the time.

Son Nicholas, 75, wanted out of the U.K. after the war with Grindelwald in 1945. Was originally an Ambassador to the U.S. for Great Britain for thirty years before retiring there.

Daughter Rowena, 68, married Charles Dempsey and moved to France. She was a Spell Crafter for a private company before retiring in 1962.

Grandson and Nicholas' son Wulfric, 44, is an ambassador to Japan for the U.S.

Grandson and Rowena's son Brad, 37, is a French Unspeakable.

Granddaughter and Rowena's daughter Ariana, 34, is a Charms professor at Beauxbatons. She married Francis Delacour, Fleur's uncle.

Great grandson and Wulfric's son Edward, 18, just graduated from the Academy of Wizardry in Central Park.

Great granddaughter and Brad's daughter Alexis Dempsey, 15, is a student at Beauxbatons.

Great grandson and Brad's son Landon Dempsey, 14, is a student at Beauxbatons.

Great granddaughter and Brad's daughter Avery Dempsey, 12, is a student at Beauxbatons.

Great granddaughter and Ariana's daughter Olympe Delacour, 13, is a student at Beauxbatons.

Chapter 4 The Dumbledore Family

"Harry! It is good to see you again!" Idalia Ortego exclaimed, placing kisses on both his cheeks. Harry was grateful he had cast a translation charm on both his mouth and ears, so as to understand everything Idalia was saying right off the bat.

The 19-year old Spanish pureblood heiress looked beautiful in her sundress, the muggle fashion an uncommon sight on rich purebloods. She led him through her manor, glimpses of richly furnished rooms filling his peripherals. She told him about how her family came to be so wealthy as she steered him through the house.

"My great-grandfather opened up Ortego Potions in 1879 when he was twenty-eight years old. He started off by brewing potions himself and then distributing them to local apothecaries. By the time my father took over as head of the company when my grandfather died in a Manticore rampage in Greece, Ortego Potions had over two hundred brewers and twenty Potions Masters working for them. We distribute potions to dozens of apothecaries, general stores and even hospitals. Ortego Potions is responsible for the creation of the Blood-Replenishing Potion, a project headed by my grandfather and the Draught of Peace, a project headed by my father. Any time a book wishes to publish the recipe for creating one of the potions they must seek the approval of my father and give him a small percentage of the book's sales. It isn't a large percentage, most of the time not even being a tenth of a percent, but it adds up after a few years of sales. It's why potion textbooks are so expensive, since rights to potion recipes are in the hand of the creators for two hundred years and can be passed down to family members."

Right as she was done explaining they came out onto a large patio surrounded by a beautiful backyard decorated with trees covered in pink flowers. He counted almost a dozen abraxans grazing on the beautiful lawn.

Idalia sat down on one of the wicker patio chairs and motioned for Harry to do the same. "Fleur told me you got a new girlfriend, after you broke up with that pretty Indian girl in Madrid."

"Had a girlfriend," Harry stated as he sat down, "for three and a half months. She broke up with me a almost two months ago."

"Oh no! What happened?"

Harry scratched the back of his head, wondering how the conversation started off about his personal life. "Well she was my best friend before hand. It was kind of easy to just start dating but there was nothing romantic between us. She saw it first and pointed it out to me. I didn't see it right away but now I do."

"Are you still friends?" Idalia asked.

"Of course."

Idalia patted his leg. "Then the breakup was for the best I'm sure. Now, we can discuss our personal lives later. You came asking for my help against You-Know-Who, yes?"

* * *

"Harry Potter, it is a pleasure to meet you not on the dueling platform."

Harry stared at the 1995 Junior European Dueling Champion, the man who had beaten him in the final round. He was surprised Andre Peeters had answered back positively, but then again it wasn't like he knew the young man too well, other then the fact that he was Belgium and a great duelist.

They were sitting in a muggle cafe, privacy wards erected over their area. Harry had insisted on meeting somewhere in the open, since he didn't know Andre that well. Andre had agreed, as long as he got to pick the public location. Once Harry found out it was a muggle cafe, he bowed to Andre's demand.

"You as well Andre, I'm glad you could meet with me." Translation charms really were a handy bit of magic.

Andre nodded his head. "Of course. Death Eaters killed my mother during an attack on the Quidditch World Cup in Brussels, 1978. They never proved who killed her and now that they are back, I want to make them all pay."

Harry nodded his head. While during the first war Death Eater attacks had been largely kept to the United Kingdom and Ireland, there were still a few dozen reported attacks in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Moody had told him about the attack on the QWC in Brussels, how almost a hundred-thousand witches and wizards had run around in a panic because of only forty Death Eaters. How if only a hundred people had stopped running and started fighting, the Death Eaters would have been beaten easily and three-quarters of the casualties suffered that day could have been avoided.

"We're trying to do everything we can to stop the spread of Voldemort to the continent but its hard. He's stronger then he was last time, and he has more followers. We need all the help we can get, which is why I contacted you."

"This organization you mentioned, does it work for the Ministry?"

Harry shook his head. "The Ministry is aware of its existence but it has no control over the group. It is full of those of people who don't work for the Ministry but want to make a difference against Voldemort"

* * *

"Not every day we get a celebrity of your status here," Thyra Nyhus stated as she pulled Harry into a hug. The Danish witch, though small in stature, had a toughness about her that Harry admired.

"Not every day I get away from the United Kingdom," Harry answered, returning the gesture.

"Come on, let me show you some of the magical animals I look after."

Harry saw hippogriffs, griffins, manticores, graphorns, hellhounds (gigantic dogs with red eyes that breath fire) and even a lethifold. He knew that Thyra would be perfect for the job of taking care of Hogwarts' new guard beast. He didn't know every stop McGonagall was pulling out, but he knew there were going to be several powerful beast living on Hogwarts' grounds this year.

After some small talk and a tour around the facility, Harry decided to get right to the point. "So you don't like Voldemort either, huh?"

Thyra shuddered at the name. "Why must you say his name?"

"Mostly because it gets on people's nerves," Harry answered with a shrug. He was rewarded with a smack to his shoulder and a shake of Thyra's head.

"Of course I don't like him. I'm a muggle-born after all. I am everything he and his followers stand against."

"So you'd be willing to help fight him?" Harry asked.

"Of course but I don't know what good I'd be all the way out in Belgium."

Harry was silent for a second. "What if I told you I had a job offer for you?"

Thyra looked at Harry curiously, before slowly nodding her head. "I'm listening."

* * *

Harry Potter was teaching himself to be ready for anything. With a psychopathic Dark Lord and his equally insane followers wanting him dead, it was best to never be caught off guard. Still, the one thing he didn't expect while exiting the animal reserve where Thyra worked, in Belgium, was Albus Dumbledore. This was the Minister of Magic for the United Kingdom, what was he doing in Belgium of all places?

"Hello Harry!" Dumbledore greeted brightly.

"Profes...er Minister, what are you doing here?" Harry asked, a little dumbfounded.

"It is my great-granddaughter's birthday today, she turns 13, and I was just on my way to her party. I was wondering if you would care to accompany me? And please Harry, call me Albus."

"One normally doesn't go through western Belgium to get to the south of France from Britain, Minister, I mean Albus. How did you know I'd be here? Not even Ron and Neville know where I am."

Dumbledore inclined his head in acknowledgment. "While they didn't know the specifics of where you would be, they did know you were visiting Spain and Belgium on Order business. From there it was easy to piece together that you were helping Moody recruit members, and learning of your friendship with Thyra Nyhus from Fleur, it just made sense that this is where you might be. I've been waiting for almost an hour for you to show, just spending time observing the animals."

Harry frowned at the simplicity of it all. He would have to caution his friends to be more careful with his plans and friendships.

"I find it odd that you spent so much energy looking for me, just to invite me to your great-granddaughter's birthday."

Dumbledore straightened his half-moon glasses and smiled at Harry. "I admit I have another motive for asking you to accompany me. It involves Horcruxes."

Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up even worse. "Then I guess I'll accept your invitation."

"Splendid!" Dumbledore held out a metal ring several inches in diameter. "One of the perks of being Minister is I can get portkeys that travel through countries and not have to arrive at specific portkey stations."

Harry grabbed hold of the portkey and felt the familiar tug on his naval. When they finally landed, Harry on his ass, they were in front of a large, two story house. Beautiful flowers littered the sides of the walkway they had appeared on, flanking the stone path until it reached the front door.

"Today is just a family event. The party for friends will be tomorrow," Dumbledore stated as they strolled up the lawn to the large house. Lifting a wrinkled hand, the Minister knocked on the door.

It was several seconds before the door opened. A girl around Harry's age answered the door. She had curly strawberry-blond hair that fell to her shoulders and twinkling blue eyes. She had a dusting of light freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. Her body was still in the process of growing into a woman but she still had nice curves. Upon spotting Dumbledore standing on her doorstep, her face lit up with a beautiful smile.

"Gee-Gee!" the girl cried out in delight, throwing her arms around Dumbledore.

"Alexa, c'est génial de tu voir!" Dumbledore responded returning the hug. As soon as the girl pulled away from Dumbledore, the former Headmaster motion to Harry with his hand. "This is a former student of mine, Harry Potter."

The girl turned toward Harry quickly, her eyes widening in awe. She regained her composure quickly though and held out her hand. "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Alexis Dempsey." Her English was with a slight French accent, showing her skill and great use of the English language. Harry realized his translation charms must have been overwhelmed by the magic of the portkey and failed.

Harry took her hand and shook it, smiling at her. "It's nice to meet you as well."

Alexis stepped back and allowed the two to enter the house. Harry looked around the main room, noticing that it was filled with photos of a happy family. He quickly recast the translation charm on himself. He didn't know if everyone's English was as good as Alexis'.

"Gee-Gee talks about you all the time. You are his protege right?"

Harry turned toward Dumbledore and mouthed 'Gee-Gee?' Dumbledore merely smiled in response before moving further into the house. Harry turned back toward Alexis. "I guess you could say that. He has taught me a lot."

"Oh, come meet the rest of the family, everyone is here!" Alexis grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him along through the house. Harry felt a light blush rise on his cheeks at the innocent gesture.

Harry found himself being led into a room full of people. He could spot Dumbledore talking to a man who looked like a younger Dumbledore. This younger man had ginger hair littered with grays and brown eyes, as well as half the wrinkles. If Harry was to guess, based on the aging process of wizards, this man was Nicholas Dumbledore, son of Albus Dumbledore.

Before Harry could confirm his guess, he felt himself being tugged to a different area of the room. Alexis was leading him toward a group of four teens of various ages.

"This is my cousin Edward Dumbledore." Harry shook hands with an auburn haired, brown eye male with a long nose. Edward was tall and lanky, and if Harry remembered correctly, from what James Macnie told him, he was eighteen years old. He was from the United States.

"This is my other cousin, Olympe Delacour." Olympe had straight black hair that reached her waist. She had brown eyes and rosy cheeks with a slender frame. She was Fleur's cousin and thirteen years old. There was no resemblance between her and the two quarter-Veela Delacour sisters.

"This is my brother Landon." Landon was of average height and stocky, as if he played Beater on a school team. He had blond hair and brown eyes, and was fourteen years old. He had a serious look about him.

"And this is my younger sister and the birthday girl, Avery." Avery also had strawberry-blond hair but her eyes were brown. She was almost as tall as Alexis, despite being three years younger. Since today was her birthday that meant she would be turning 13.

"Everyone, this is Harry Potter."

Avery and Olympe both let out small squeals of excitement. Edward seemed to size him up as if he was an opponent. Landon just looked at him and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say "who cares?"

"You were the runner up in the European Junior Dueling Tournament!" Avery pointed out. "We were there in Italy. You were so good!"

"Thank you, I appreciate the praise," Harry stated. He had hoped with Albus Dumbledore as their great-grandfather, these kids wouldn't be like everyone else when running into the Boy-Who-Lived.

Landon looked him up and down. "Gee-Gee says you play Quidditch; youngest seeker in Hogwarts history. You look a little bulky to be playing seeker, unless you're a freak like Krum."

Harry assumed Landon meant freak in a good way. "Use to play seeker. I was a runt until last summer. While I'm fast, I'm not nearly as fast as Krum. Krum might look big, but he's actually pretty thin, though he is a freak on a broom. I outweigh him by a stone, at least. I switched to keeper last year. I'm pretty good at it."

"I play beater myself. Scouts at our school games for the graduating players have already told me if I keep it up, I'll be the next Lacroix!" Landon's tone was full of bragging. Lacroix was a famous beater for the French National Quidditch team and had helped them win the cup in 1966. To be compared to him, since France hadn't seen anyone nearly as good in so long, was a very high compliment. He now knew why the teen was bragging.

"Ludo Bagman was once compared to Lacroix," Harry said.

Landon snorted. "As if that windbag could ever compare to Lacroix."

* * *

Harry approached Albus, who was again talking with the man he had confirmed was Nicholas Dumbledore. He had been introduced to everyone else in the family. He had spent a good amount of time talking to Brad Dempsey, one of Albus' grandchildren, and a French Unspeakable. Ariana Delacour, who was a Charms Professor at Beauxbatons, was also a dueling enthusiast and talked with him about the previous tournament.

He had answered numerous questions from Avery and Olympe. He had talked Quidditch, both maneuvers and possible match-ups for the Quidditch World Cup in two years, with Landon. Edward seemed to be in a competition with Harry, though over what Harry wasn't sure. If he was to guess it might be for Albus' attention, which Edward seemed to crave. With Alexis he just talked about life in general.

Still he had been invited by Dumbledore for a specific reason and four hours later, he still had no idea what that reason was.

"Enjoying yourself Harry?" Albus asked at his approach.

"Yes sir. Your family has been very kind to me," Harry responded.

"The Dumbledores and Potters have always been friendly," Nicholas stated. "Why I remember helping your grandfather on an Auror case that led to the States. Great man, very honorable."

Harry gave a small smile, always interested in hearing information about his family. "I'd like to here more about that sometime but..." he trailed off.

"If you'll excuse us Nicholas, Harry and I have something to discuss."

Nicholas nodded his head. "Of course dad."

Dumbledore moved Harry over into a corner and cast a privacy ward around them. Harry noticed that Edward was glaring over at them. He wondered what the teen's problem was. It seemed Dumbledore saw it as well.

"Don't mind Edward. He wanted me to take him on as my apprentice in the art of Transfiguration but I haven't taken one since my first apprentice went dark. He thought being my great-grandson would change my mind, but it did not. Now he thinks I have taken you on as an apprentice, despite my constant reassurances that I have not."

Harry looked at his mentor curiously. "Who was your first apprentice?"

Dumbledore sighed and patted down his beard. "Gellert Grindelwald." If Harry had been drinking something he would have spit it out. "I had achieved my masters three years earlier when he approached me, two years after his graduation from Durmstrang, in 1903. I had just married my wife, Alicia, when he begged me to accept him. Apprenticeships are a minimum of a year but can last longer if the master thinks the apprentice isn't ready. Throughout the apprenticeship he had always voiced his distrust in governments but it wasn't until we were nearing the end of our year together that he started going off on these violent rants against the Ministries. I knew then I couldn't keep passing my knowledge to someone so angry at the world. I severed our master-apprentice bond and told him to leave. He did and after a decade passed I heard rumors of assassinations in governments throughout Eastern Europe. In my gut I knew it was him, and I was right."

Harry was silent for a few moments. "I can see how that would sour you on taking anyone else."

"Indeed. Now, my history with Grindelwald is not what I wanted to talk to you about. I have spent time researching items Tom would find worthy enough to be his Horcruxes. There are many items of the four founders kept in museums but I inspected them all personally and none of them are fakes, nor are any of them a Horcrux.

"So I did some digging and I found items to the founders that weren't kept in the museum. Hufflepuff's Cup was passed down as a family heirloom in the Hoffel family until it was stolen in 1953. Slytherin's locket was kept by the Gaunt family until Merope sold it to Burke before she died during childbirth. The item was stolen from Borgin and Burke in 1947. The sheath to Gryffindor's sword was in the Gryffindor family vault when I first claimed head of the family. I hadn't been in the vault since the early 1900's until the other day when I went to look. The sheath is gone and I know for a fact it has not been reunited with the sword. I am still looking for an artifact from Ravenclaw.

"Then I started looking at other items Tom might find worthy. I looked at several dozen items so far and believe I found two possible choices. The Gaunt family ring had been confiscated from Morfin Gaunt when he was arrested the second time, for the deaths of the Riddle family. It had been placed in a Ministry storage locker and forgotten about, and now it is missing. As for the other item; the other day I asked my friend at the Ardennes' War Memorial, located on the spot Grindelwald and I had our final duel, to check out Grindelwald's items there. He told me that the wand was a fake, that the real one had been stolen."

Harry absorbed everything he was being told. Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket, Gryffindor's sheath, the Gaunt family ring and Grindelwald's wand. Five out of eleven items...wait no, out of ten. He had completely forgotten about it what with the whole Forbidden Forest incident but Sirius and Remus had gone to India to retrieve a Horcrux.

"What about the one Sirius and Remus went to get in India? What was it? Was it destroyed?"

Dumbledore reached into his robe and pulled out a warped looking pair of gold half-moon spectacles. The frame was twisted, one of the lenses was missing while the other was cracked and there was black burn marks on it. Harry took the item and examined it carefully. The letters APWBD were carved into both sides of the frame. It took Harry a moment to realize this was a similar pair to the one Dumbledore was wearing right now.

"Your glasses?"

"After I was made Headmaster, a young Tom Riddle had approached me about taking the open Defense post. I declined his offer, thinking him too inexperienced. It was shortly after that I realized my glasses were missing. Back then my vision wasn't nearly as bad as it is now and I didn't need to wear them all the time. I didn't think anything of it, so imagine my surprise when Sirius hands me a pair of my own spectacles!"

Dumbledore's beard twitched as his face broke out into a small smile. Harry let a small grin make its way onto his own face. "So what do we do, now that we know half of the items?"

"I have several places that are potential locations. Bill Weasley is checking out the locations for strong wards, as I doubt Voldemort would leave something so precious to him unprotected."

Harry had always wondered why Voldemort would make it so well known where his Horcruxes were. Wouldn't it make sense to be more discreet with something so important to him?

"Wouldn't it be wiser to use something inconspicuous, like a piece of garbage, and to leave it in a place that would make it hard to find, like a dump?"

"That would be true, if no one was to ever become aware of the Horcruxes or someone who could sense magic never walked within a mile of one. Horcruxes give off a powerful pulse of dark magic. The smartest thing to do would be to hide it somewhere magical people never visited and cast a ward that stifles magic around it. However, Voldemort has too big of an ego to do something so simple."

Harry nodded his head. He had met the Dark Lord on several occasions and without a doubt, the man was an egomaniac. Voldemort would never settle with using something ordinary as a receptacle for his soul, and he would never leave it in a place so muggle as a dump. Tom Riddle would need something extravagant for a Horcrux and he would need some place, either equally as extravagant or some place that showed off his power, to hide it.

"Now if you are willing to accompany back to the United Kingdom Harry, I have much to do tomorrow. We're beginning an investigation into Ministry workers, trying to weed out those who are spies for Voldemort."

"Of course sir," Harry stated. He had wondered when Dumbledore would start sniffing out the spies in his Ministry.

"Let us say our goodbyes and then we can be off."

* * *

"Quite useful knowing a spell crafter," Harry stated as he, Ron and Neville exited the same gym they had been attacked leaving from almost a month ago.

Helen Joyce had taken only three days to create a glamour that hid your true features from magical people but not muggles. She had just done some reworking of the standard glamour in her free time and created the results Harry was looking for. To the muggles he was still black haired, green eyed Harry Potter, but to witches and wizards he was a brown haired, brown eyed average looking bloke. Neville's disguise could pass him of as a cousin to Malfoy and Ron looked like a male version of Hermione, back when she still had buckteeth.

They had changed the times they went to workout, and generally arrived and left at different times to help throw off any Death Eaters who might be watching the gym. Today though was one of the rare days they decided to leave together.

"Hogwarts in a few," Neville pointed out.

"Which means Hogwarts' feast," Ron muttered, a dreamy look appearing on his face.

Harry folded his arms across his chest and gave an indignant sniff. "Good to know my cooking isn't appreciated."

"Sorry mate. You're cooking is decent but you're no mum or Hogwarts house elves."

"Then you can cook tonight's meal."

Neville gasped and threw a hand to his mouth in mock horror. "No! Last time he tried to cook he burnt the entire pot of pasta. How do you burn pasta? It's in boiling water!"

Ron scratched his neck in embarrassment as Harry and Neville laughed at his expense. Even Ron wasn't exactly sure how he had burnt the pasta.

"Ministry uncovered almost two dozen spies," Harry stated. Ron didn't read the Prophet, Neville rarely did. Harry was the only one who browsed through it every morning, looking for any interesting tidbit on the war. "Another seventeen workers went missing before the investigation teams could reach their offices."

"Blimey," Ron muttered. "41 Ministry workers? You take away the Aurors, Hit-Wizards and Auxiliaries, and that's a good ten percent that is."

Harry nodded his head in agreement. "A Hit-Wizard and an Auxiliary are two of the seventeen that went missing. Other then that, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was clean."

"You-Know-Who's numbers are already triple what they were last war." Neville was pale at the thought, having heard the stories from his gran about the atrocities Voldemort and only fifty Death Eaters had been able to commit. Their high amount of assassinations on Aurors and Hit-Wizards in the first few years had weakened the Ministry enough where they didn't have the man power to fight toe-to-toe, as many were too afraid to join either of the two forces.

"We know what happened in the last war. We know how they operate and with Dumbledore as Minister, I don't think we'll be so easily beaten."

* * *

Voldemort surveyed his followers in front of him, a look of anticipation on his face. Despite the blunder in London a few weeks back, he had kept his forces back the entire summer; after the failure to capture Potter in the Forbidden Forest. While his Inner Circle was made up of strong witches and wizards who could out duel many Hit-Wizards, the rest of his followers, most of whom were new to the cause, were weak. The three months of summer were spent training, trying to make them a formidable force.

The former school children were coming along nicely, disillusioned about the cause though they were. The remaining Reapers, along with all the street thugs that had eagerly joined the cause, in search of money no doubt, had fallen in line quickly after a few Cruciatus Curses. They were smart enough to know not to piss of the boss, something they had learned while living in the underworld of wizarding society. It was the former Ministry employees who caused the most problems. Every single Death Eater and spy within the Ministry had been weeded out by Dumbledore and his Ministry of Magic Investigative force. Seventeen had managed to escape before the sweeps made it to their offices, the rest thrown in Azkaban. They were bitter over their lose of jobs and not use to working so hard. They were the ones who took the most...persuasion.

He didn't care though. The few times he visited the training sessions, if he saw someone not working as hard as they could be, he cast some torture curses on them, so they knew their place. The Death Eaters he had training them were also quite spell happy and loved throwing out the occasional torture curse to make sure the people they trained stayed in line.

The results were a half-way decent fighting force a hundred and fifteen strong. It would have been more but thirty were sitting in Azkaban, the fools. He would be using every single one of those one hundred and fifteen Death Eaters on his next mission. Few knew the full details but the plan was quite brilliant if he did say so himself. It would be something that would shake the trust the wizarding society put in the Ministry, something that had been on the rise since Dumbledore took over.

"In two days time we attack. You all know what you must do. Do not fail me." Voldemort looked them all in their eyes, the white mask not protecting people as much as they may think. Some shivered when his eyes landed on them, others squared their shoulders. "I do not tolerate failure."


	5. The Hogwarts Express

The average magical population of the United Kingdom is around 20,250. Hogwarts roughly gets 90 students per year, plus I'm going to say there are several smaller private schools, which get 45 or so students between them each year. If the average witch or wizards lives 150, you get 20,250. However, after the first war with Voldemort, it dropped due to the killing off of the population and parents being too afraid to have children in such an environment. But then you add in a dozen of years of people celebrating Voldemort's downfall. Harry's year, about five or six years ahead of him and the year below him have their numbers cut in more then half due to Voldemort. The few years after those years (below Ginny's year) have a baby boom (like happens after most wars) and the year's numbers jump into the 110 range before settling down into the status quo of 90.

Chapter 5 The Hogwarts Express

Harry waved one more time to Sirius before the train started to pull away. The hundreds of family members, twenty-five Auxiliaries and eight Hit-Wizards disappeared from view as the train rounded a bend. Harry sighed before grabbing his trunk and looking for Ron, Hermione and Neville. He moved to the back of the train, where they usually sat, looking in compartments as he went. He found their usual compartment occupied by Malfoy and his goons.

Malfoy saw Harry looking into the compartment and flashed the Boy-Who-Lived a really creepy grin. Harry had never seen Malfoy grin like that. A smug smirk yes, but not a slightly insane grin. He shook his head before moving on. All of the compartments of the last three train cars appeared to be occupied by Slytherins, along with a fair amount of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and a handful of Gryffindors.

It was extremely odd, as he had never seen Slytherins this far back on the train. It was usually Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs who sat in the back few cars. He finally found his friends in the last compartment in the fourth car from the back. He stared at Hermione a little bit longer then necessary when he saw her, the first time since they broke up.

"Hello Harry," Hermione greeted, standing up and looking at him as if unsure how she should greet him.

"'lo Hermione," Harry greeted, quickly pulling her into a hug before he could change his mind.

"Bloody snakes took our compartment," Ron muttered, scowling slightly. "We've sat there since first year. No respect I tell you."

Neville shrugged his shoulders. "Not like your names are on it or anything."

"Actually, they are," Hermione stated.

"Yup. Ron, Hermione and I carved our names into the wooden frame under the window in our second year, on the ride home. Its been there ever since."

"Hermione defile school property?" Neville looked at Hermione with shock.

"It was the start of her downfall," Ron added, sadly. "Next thing you know she was beating up firsties and stealing their sugar quills."

Hermione slapped Ron on the shoulder as Harry and Neville laughed. They talked for almost an hour as the train eventually left the cities behind and came upon open farmland.

"Then George has the audacity..." Ron was cut off as the train jerked to a quick stop and they were all thrown violently from their seats.

"Fuck," Harry stated, rubbing his head where he had slammed it into the seat in front of him.

"God thing the trunks didn't come down on top of us," Ron muttered, as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"There is a modified sticking spell on the shelves. Only magic or an organic life form can remove the trunk." Hermione automatically explained.

"Learn something new everyday," Harry mumbled.

"What the hell happened?" Neville asked as he looked up from the spreading bruise on his arm.

"Train stopped," Ron stated.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Thank you captain obvious."

* * *

"Holy shit," the Hit-Wizard on monitoring duty, Jenkins, muttered, staring in horror at the map in front of him.

In his office, the Commissioner of Hit-Wizards, a tall and stocky man with graying black hair and a face lined with scars, looked up from one of the many viewing portals on his desk at the exclamation. The viewing portals allowed him to keep an eye on the missions his Hit-Wizards squads were on. Currently there was eleven of them active, as eleven Death Eater attacks were taking place. They were a recent development from the Games and Development Department. A small invisible drone, released upon arrival, floated above the target area; everything the drone saw was transmitted to its connecting viewing portals. Other viewing portals were in the war room, and the command center.

Earlier in the day eleven groups of four Death Eaters had attacked several targets. He had sent in all of the teams on duty, and had to call in an off-duty team to assist as well. He didn't think they could handle any more attacks.

"What is it?" the Commissioner demanded as he stepped out of his office, not in the mood for anymore bad news.

"The Hogwarts Express has crashed!"

The few secretaries and receptionist in the room all froze at their desk, as they turned toward the map and Jenkins in terrified surprise.

"Hit Wizard Headquarters, this is Auxiliary Greene, the Hogwarts Express is under attack! I count over seventy Death Eaters!"

Greene must have been one of the fifteen Auxiliaries stationed on the train as guards.

"Fuck! The other attacks are distractions. Both Alpha and Bravo has all of their squads out there, including the reserve teams!" They generally had six active teams, four reserve teams and four teams off duty; split in half between the two Hit-Wizard bases.

Jenkins looked at his superior with wide-eyes, unsure of what to do. The Commissioner, who had only been promoted a few years ago and had never dealt with such a crisis before, thought for a second.

"Jenkins, how many Hit-Wizard teams are still off today?"

"Three. We called in Kane's team ten minutes ago to deal with the attack in Dublin. We still got Black's team and Bravo has Broderick Anwell's team and Garcon's team still off but all were told to be ready at a moment's notice in case of emergency."

"Well call those teams in! This is definitely an emergency! Contact Bravo and get their Hit-Wizard on monitoring duty, as well as Captain Judd over here now. You," the Commissioner pointed at a random secretary, "contact the Auror Department, we don't have the manpower to do this on our own. When you're done with that, contact St. Mungo's. We're going to need Healers and Medi-Wizards who can be transported to the scene."

"Holy fuck!" Greene's voice echoed throughout the room. "They have a giant with them!"

The Commissioner marched down to the command center where two Hit-Wizard Colonels and two Hit-Wizard Majors tried their best to coordinate six simultaneous critical situation responses. (The other five are being handled by some Hit-Wizards at Bravo base, where the other teams originated from.)

"The Hogwarts Express is under attack from seventy plus Death Eaters and a giant. All we have is three off-duty teams to deal with the situation."

The four men turned toward their superior in shock, temporarily forgetting the coordinating they were suppose to be doing. All four men started to take off their communication devices and stand up but the Commissioner held up his hand.

"Rubin, McNally no offense guys, but neither of you are as spry as you use to be. I think it would be best if you remain behind and try to continue coordinating these first attacks. Any team that is able to, after dealing with their situation, give them the coordinates of the Express so they can lend a hand. The rest of you can come with me. Once the off duty teams arrive, we're moving out."

The two Majors stood, patting the shoulders of their older and higher ranking comrades, both of whom sat down looking dejected. The Commissioner led his men to the equipment room, where they put on their battle robes. Upon arriving in the main room, where the monitoring stations were, they saw that Jenkins had already put on a battle robe.

"All off duty teams have responded and are on their way, as well as Phelps and Captain Judd from Bravo. The Auror Department is rounding up about thirty of their men and are sending them to the coordinates. The Auxiliaries already have forty men on the way. Strong anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards have been erected a half-mile in all directions."

Several 'pops' filled the air as fourteen other Hit-Wizards appeared in the room, dressed and ready to go. Sirius Black and Broderick Anwell were probably the best fighters the Hit-Wizards had, how had both of them gotten the same day off?

"You all know the situation. Roughly 30 Aurors and 40 Auxiliaries are on the way to assist. Team leaders, set the coordinates to your portkeys and move out."

Before they could leave though, Greene's voice echoed throughout the room again. "Is that a...Oh my fucking Merlin, they have a dragon! Hit-Wizards, I repeat they have a fucking dragon!"

* * *

Harry looked out the window and cursed. "Death Eaters!"

Hermione nodded her head, as if that made sense. "They must have caused the train to crash."

"Now we know why all the Slytherins were at the back of the train. Didn't want to not show up and cause suspicion, but knew what was going to happen so sat as far back as possible," Ron added.

"Right, Hermione lock the door that leads to the last three train cars. No need to leave us open to getting attacked by Junior Death Eaters. We should gather the younger students and wounded toward one area of the train, makes it easier for us to defend them. Sirius said there was some Auxiliaries on board, we should find them."

Harry walked out of his compartment and looked out the window that lined the corridor. More Death Eaters could be seen on the other side of the train, slowly moving in. He could hear the frightened cries of scared children and the pain filled moans of the wounded. He withdrew his wand from his holster and took a deep breath.

"Everyone start moving towards the middle cars! Gather the wounded and stay low! We're under attack from Death Eaters! Spread the word, gather in the 9th car!"

Students began pouring out of the compartments,, some limping, others dragging wounded with them. They all crouched low as they went. Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione all got into a crouched position as they looked at each other, wondering what they should do.

Some ideas played throughout Harry's head but despite the fact that he was a natural born leader and that Moody had drilled tactics into his head, he knew Ron was still a better a tactician.

"Any ideas Ron?" Harry asked.

Ron thought about it for a second or two. "It would be stupid to gather everyone into one area. The Death Eaters would tear that car apart. Those who want to fight should spread out amongst the train, to spread the Death Eaters attack. If the wounded and younger ones are gonna be in car nine, then the people that are guarding them shouldn't be attacking, no need to draw attention to it."

Harry nodded, Ron really was a good tactician. "Right. Let's go tell that plan to those in car nine, and make sure to get the front of the train there as well. Hopefully the Auxiliaries won't cause us any problems."

They crouched ran through the train cars, checking to make sure everyone had moved on. A dead girl, a third year Gryffindor, lay on the floor of a compartment in car twelve. Hermione stifled a sob and Ron muttered a curse at the sight of her corpse, her little neck twisted at an awkward angle.

They didn't pass any more corpses on the way to car nine, but said train car was packed to the maximum. The Auxiliaries seemed to have the same idea Harry did and had gathered the students from the front of the train to car nine as well. A lot of students had spilled out into the corridors of cars ten and eight.

It appeared that the conductor, the snack lady and four Auxiliaries had died when the locomotive (the first car of the train for those who don't know) had been blown up. The resulting explosion had blown up half of the first passenger car, which is where the prefects generally sat, though luckily most hadn't headed off to the meeting yet. The Head Boy, a Hufflepuff Harry didn't know, was dead, along with three Prefects; two Ravenclaws and Chris Mosby, a Gryffindor. Cho Chang, who was Head Girl, and a quarter of the remaining prefects, including Hannah Abbott, Ernie MacMillan and Colin Creevey , were seriously injured. Since it was the younger years that generally crowded the front of the train, it was many of them who were wounded, and unfortunately, two of them were dead.

Harry, after closing his eyes in pain at the list of names, nodded his head to Ron, who quickly relayed his strategy to the Auxiliaries. Apparently both the leader of the Auxiliaries sent to guard the train, as well as the second in command had been killed in the explosion. That meant the remaining ones had never been in control before; had never been relied upon to lead others into battle.

"Any who know first aid, help out the wounded. If all you can do is wrap your shirt around someone who is bleeding then that is enough. Fifth years besides Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Romilda Vane, Derek Harper and Angel Davis, you guys are tasked with guarding the wounded and the younger students," Harry commanded, taking charge. "Sixth and seventh years, as well as those fifth years mentioned by name, spread out throughout the train. Luckily the train is enchanted and warded to take some damage. The windows are also warded but they do open, just don't open a hole too big. As long as you stay behind cover you should be fine. We're being attacked on both sides, so don't everyone crowd into the compartments or stay in the corridor. Split up equally between the two."

A little less then fifty students, as well as the eleven Auxiliaries spread throughout the train. Some of the older students were too afraid to participate, others wounded. Harry took position two cars down from the wounded. Close enough to lend a hand if the wounded were targeted but far enough away so if the Death Eaters found out where he was, they wouldn't destroy car nine in the process. The Death Eaters had closed the gap between where they originally started and where they were now, only fifty feet from boarding the Express.

"_Ampeto!_"

Harry was the first one to fire a spell, catching the Death Eaters unaware. His spell slammed into the chest of the closest Death Eater to him and tossed the cloaked figure several feet backwards. Spells started to fly toward the train, as the students and Auxiliaries began to respond.

"Giant! They have a giant!"

The train shook as the giant slammed its club into the second passenger car; car three. Screams could be heard coming from the students inside, as they scrambled to move into the third passenger car. The giant brought its club down again, collapsing the protective magic and smashing a large hole in the middle of the train car. A scream died mid-cry, the person most likely being crushed to death.

A series of explosions went off around the giant's face, making it stumble backwards. Some of those he trained with must have been close to it. The giant let out a loud roar as numerous explosion hexes were tossed at its head.

Spells slammed into the train near Harry, one of them flying through the window and forcing him to duck down. Somewhere down the line he could hear the mad cackle of an obviously insane witch. Judging from what Sirius told him, that was Bellatrix Lestrange. Which meant these weren't just your average Death Eaters, Inner Circle members were around too.

"_Flamen! Confingo! Deleo! Pesante! Diffindo!"_

His first spell was blocked, but his second one clipped a Death Eater. A chunk of flesh exploded from the man's shoulder in a spray of blood, causing him to yell in pain and collapse to the ground. The last three spells were blocked easily.

"Dragon!"

Harry whipped his head around, unsure if he had heard correctly.

"Did someone say a fucking dragon?" someone in another train car shouted. It sounded like Ron.

Although Harry couldn't see the dragon, he could feel the heat as it shot flames at the train car he was in. Someone in one of the compartments screamed in agony, as some of the flames worked its way into the open window the person was casting from.

Harry could feel the protective magic on the train car start to waver. "Everyone get out of car eleven!"

Harry scrambled down the corridor, two other people joining him. He caught sight of a seventh year Slytherin laying on the ground, half of his face burned away. The small whimpers of agony made Harry stop, he had thought the teen dead. He dashed into the compartment and quickly scooped the Slytherin up before exiting the compartment and throwing himself into train car twelve.

He felt the heat on his back as the dragon's fire was able to overwhelm the defensive magic and burn down train car eleven. There was no way they would survive this assault with a giant, a dragon and Death Eaters attacking them. He needed to do something. He put the Slytherin down carefully on a compartment floor.

"Try to take care of him!" Harry instructed the Hufflepuff who happened to be in the compartment. The Hufflepuff nodded, her eyes wide in shock as she looked down at the severely burned Slytherin. Harry took off running, making his way further down the train.

"Harry what are you doing?" Ginny demanded as Harry ran past her and into the compartment his trunk was in. She was crouched at the window in the corridor directly across from his compartment, trading spell fire with two Death Eaters.

Harry pulled his trunk from the shelf and threw it open. Right on top was his Firebolt, which he snatched up. "I'm taking care of that dragon." For good measure he grabbed his second and third wands; one wand that once belonged to his father and the other to a long dead ancestor named Ignotus Peverell.

Ginny looked at him as if he was crazy. "Are you bloody joking?"

"Someone has to," Harry simply replied, as he strapped the holsters for the extra wands to his ankle and waist. He opened up the window as far as he could. Harry threw himself out the window and quickly positioned his Firebolt underneath him. His knees skimmed the ground for a second before he shot up into the air.

"It's Potter!" a Death Eater shouted.

Spells flew at him, but he was moving too fast for them to hit. The dragon had overshot the train and was taking a wide turn to come back for a second run. He flew right at it, his wand clutched tightly in his hand. What the hell was he doing taking on a dragon?

* * *

The Hit-Wizards arrived a minute after the Aurors and Auxiliaries, half a mile behind the train. They could see the mass of Death Eaters attacking both sides and the flashes of spell fire as the students on the trained tried to defend themselves. They could see the giant and the fiery explosions going off around its face, disorienting it. And they could see the dragon and some crazy bastard flying a broom right at it.

"Split up your men! Half to the left, half to the right!"

As they got closer to the battle, Sirius felt his jaw drop. "That's my fucking godson up there!"

Broderick Anwell, who was running a little to his left, looked up. "Lord Potter is up there? We must help him!"

Sirius nodded his head in agreement. The two increased their pace, gripping their wands tightly in their hands.

"He's here! You-Know-Who is here!"

Strolling forward behind the ranks of Death Eaters was the 6'5" figure of Voldemort. His white skin was covered in tiny scales, he had no nose or ears and his dark red eyes glinted with rage and power. The man was an intimidating presence, and Sirius understood why some people ran at the sight of him.

"Black, Anwell, take your best man each and go after You-Know-Who! We can't have him ripping through our forces. The rest of us will provide cover and distract the Death Eaters."

Sirius cursed at the order. Harry needed his help but Voldemort was the bigger threat. Sirius turned toward the Hit-Wizard Commissioner and pointed at his godson fighting against the dragon. "Send someone to assist Harry!"

The Commissioner gave him a quick nod. "I'll help your godson Black."

Giving his superior a nod in return, Sirius turned toward where Voldemort was and took a deep breath. He had only dueled the Dark Lord once, with James at his side. James had done it on two other occasions, three in total, before finally meeting his end on the fourth time, same thing with Lily. Harry had done his parents one better and had survived battles with Voldemort four times already.

When compared to his best friend, it was James who had been the better fighter, having more cunning and a better understanding of transfiguration and runes, and their use in dueling. It was Sirius, however, who was magically stronger and better with curses and hexes. When they used to duel against each other in practice it was smarts and tactics against brute strength. When they worked together, on the other hand, they were the best pair of fighters the Ministry had because, not only did their strengths compliment each other, they had an understanding of each other that he had only ever seen in the Weasley twins.

"Horn, you're with me," Anwell barked. Horn gave Anwell a shaky nod.

"Erickson," Sirius called. The Hit-Wizard in question gave him a pleading look, as if asking him to choose someone else. "You-Know-Who isn't going to just surrender you know, lets go!"

The four Hit-Wizards broke off from the main group and tried to maneuver behind the group of Death Eaters, as if they were going to attack the rear of their formation. Sirius ducked underneath a spell and sent one in return, which was blocked with a shield. Erickson caught the Death Eater with an overpowered cutter in the arm, severing the man appendage right below the elbow.

Voldemort launched a killing curse which struck an Auror right in the face, causing the witch to crumple to the ground. Sirius swore violently. Voldemort was still out of spell range for most witches and wizards. The fact that the Dark Lord could hit a target from so far away just showed his strength.

Another Killing Curse was fired from Voldemort's wand, this one clipping an Auxiliary who saw it too late and couldn't move out of the way in time. Anwell started shooting curses at the Dark Lord, trying to draw the man's attention. Sirius joined him, keeping an eye on the Death Eaters near them.

"Let Black and his three friends pass!" Voldemort shouted to his Death Eaters. "I want to see if they can offer me a challenge."

Sirius gripped his wand tighter and he could hear Erickson gulp heavily behind him. They didn't fire any spells at the Death Eaters as they moved behind their ranks, not wanting to have such an opportunity slip through their fingers as they did what they were ordered to do; delay Voldemort.

"Bow to me Black! Bow to your death!"

* * *

Harry swerved quickly around the jet of flames, his wand cutting through the air to deflect the curse shot at him. It made sense that the dragon, a Welsh Green, had a rider on its back. It didn't just act on its own. He shot an explosion hex at the dragon but the fiery explosion simply rolled over the dragon's thick skin. As Harry shot pass the dragon, he was forced to barrel roll in order to avoid a trio of spells. The rider would have to go first, it would make things so much easier. A large saddle was strapped around the dragon's midsection, right behind the wings. It was big enough to fit two people, but only one sat on this one.

Harry turned quickly, having the maneuverability advantage in this battle. The rider had turned somewhat in his seat to try to keep an eye on Harry as the dragon made a wide turn. This would be the best chance for him to go after the Death Eater, when he didn't have to worry about the dragon roasting him with flames.

"_Reducto! Diffindo!" _

His first spell went wide and missed both the dragon and its rider. His second spell was easily shielded by the rider. Before the dragon could make a complete turn Harry was upon it. The dragon, sensing his presence, whipped its tail at his general location. Ducking underneath the appendage, Harry dropped so he was under the dragon. It's legs attempted to claw at him but he was too low for them to hit.

The dragon suddenly dropped its altitude, almost crushing Harry with its weight. He went into a steep dive before twisting slightly to his left and rocketing into the air. He twirled around the flapping wing and came up level with the Death Eater, who wasn't expecting him. Harry jumped off his broom and tackled the Death Eater right off his saddle, both of their wands tumbling out their grasp. They were several hundred feet in the air, right above the battle.

They tumbled through the air, the dragon snapping at both of them as the plummeted to the earth. Harry punched the Death Eater twice in the face, splitting open two of his knuckles on the mask. The Death Eater dug his elbow into Harry's gut. Harry saw the dragon rearing back to roast both of them alive. He pushed the Death Eater away from him, jammed his feet into the man's stomach and kicked off. While it didn't do much to slow the Death Eaters speed, it did make Harry go faster. The flames from the dragon engulfed the man, burning him alive. Harry felt the heat on his skin and could feel some of it blister, but nothing serious happened.

Grabbing his second wand from its ankle holster, Harry quickly slowed down his momentum and summoned his broom. He was maybe sixty feet from the ground now, and though his momentum was slowed, he was still moving at a decent speed. His broom flew into his grasp and he quickly put it under him and gave it a hard tug. His speed dropped considerably but his broom was unable to pull up in time and he slammed into the ground.

He lay on the ground for a second, the breath knocked out of him and pain lancing up his right arm. He got up and went to grab his wand, which lay next to him but the pain in his arm intensified. It was probably dislocated. He used his left hand to pick up his wand and numbed the pain in his right. His broom lay near him, still in one piece. All he was missing was his main wand, the phoenix feather one.

"_Accio_ wand!"

As he waited for the wand to reach him, he surveyed the situation. Aurors, Hit-Wizards and Auxiliaries had shown up in force and had pretty much driven the Death Eaters from the train. Intense fighting was still going on between both groups. A team of four Hit-Wizards were dealing with the giant, trying to land the killing blow. A pair of Hit-Wizards was dueling with Voldemort, and to his horror Harry realized one of them was his godfather and the other was a political and social ally.

Harry's main wand hit him in the side before falling to the ground. Shoving his secondary one back into its holster, Harry grasped the familiar piece of holly and stood up. He had completely forgotten about the dragon but the dragon hadn't forgotten about him.

Its large shadow fell across him as it swept down from the sky. He glanced up in time to see a burst of flames shooting right at him. He was seconds from being roasted alive when a powerful golden shield enveloped him and kept the fire at bay. The dragon's eyes rolled into the back of its head before it fell from the sky and hit the ground, hard.

"Are you alright Harry?"

Harry whipped his head around and saw Dumbledore standing there. He supposed Dumbledore had heard of the attack and had come as soon as possible, especially since Voldemort was present.

Harry nodded his head quickly and shouted What was on his mind. "Sirius is fighting Voldemort!"

Dumbledore nodded his head and started to march toward where the Dark Lord was fighting the two pureblood lords. "Stay here Harry. The Ministry has it under control now."

* * *

Here's a list of spells I'll be using throughout the story that aren't part of canon.

Encyclopedia of Non-Canon Spells:

C- Color: At least all the colors I know of. Sometimes two spells can be the same color, though hopefully this is rare.

F-Form: Ray, jet, beam and shaft are basically all the same thing, just different ways of saying it

M-Movement: only described in those that have a noticeable wand movement.

Abscido-small extremely hot sharp metal disk flies out of the wand. Minor Dark Arts(C:Bright red and/or orange F: metal disk)

Acuo-Causes sharp pain in area it hits Minor Dark Art (C: brown F: beam of light)

Adgluti Coniveo- Sticking charm that glues someone's eyes shut(C: pink F: thin jet of light)

Ampeto- Blasting curse

Batoack- makes the target feel as though they are being punched all over; if cast by a very powerful person can brake bones

Bussato Fuori- Causes target to go blind for thirty seconds (C: Indigo F: shaft of light)

Ciaitier- Only useful against demons, creates a blast of magic that is as pure as anything can get (C: white)

Chute- Minor stunning spell, only lasting for twenty minutes (C:Yellow F: beam of light M: jabbing your wand in front of you.)

Circum Linngua -Cuts out targets tongue Major Dark Arts (C:greenish-blue F:shaft of light)

Confringo- Breaks every bone it hits Middle Dark Arts (C: light grey F: thin jet of light)

Cuor Coniv- Causes target's eyes to start bleeding (C: sickly green F:shaft of light)

Delectat Immani- Causes target to feel immense sexual pleasure (C: pink and red swirls F:jet of light)

Deleo – explosion hex.

Diffringo- Shatters every bone it hits Major Dark Arts (C: dark grey F: thick jet of light)

Douleur Pied- Causes a stinging pain in the persons foot (C: light grey F: shaft of light)

Electrify- Shocks person severely, like sticking something metal in a socket Minor Dark Arts(C: white F: bolt)

Expello- powerful blasting charm, this one can only be blocked by shields that offer physical protection, not magical (C: violet F: beam of light)

Flamen- powerful blasting charm. (C: off white F: jet of light)

Flavilla- when the sparks collide with human skin the spark cause the skin to boil. Border line Dark Arts. (C: silver F: sparks)

Flipendo- Knock back jinx, throws target ten feet back

Fulgzeus – powerful bolt of electricity

Inflatus- multiple powerful blasting charm (C: navy F: several ray of light)

Kugelzauberei- creates a hole the size of a snitch in whatever it hits Borderline Dark Arts(C: silver F: thin jet of light)

Laisser Tomber- An invisible force lifts target ten feet into the air before dropping them.(C: sage F: small beam of light)

Leve Escudos- destroys shields (C: light blue F: wave of light)

Linjua- The most powerful exploding charm in existence. (C: green and blue F: two beams of light that spiral around each other M:

Lugo- Makes target feel like they are being stabbed all over by pins.

Meharius- make target feel like their being stabbed where spell hit

Muskel Desido- Causes any muscle it hits to deteriorate(C: brown F:long beam of light)

Peelsotog- makes target go into deep sleep (C: blue F: mist)

Pesante- Like Flipendo except targets feel like they are being punched in the stomach

Potente Multiplo Stupefy- fires seven stunners (C: bright red F: several beams of light)

Saigner Nez- makes the targets nose bleed (C: crimson F: ray of light)

Spiculumi Argentum- Rapid-fire, small piercing curses. (C: silver F: darts)

Recutio- power wall of protective magic (C:indigo F: wall)

Retexo- shield that can reflect most spells

Sevanouir- causes target to faint (C: maroon F: jet of light)

Vegg- shield that blocks physical attacks (C: transparent purple F: dome of light)

Vertiges- causes the target to become dizzy. (C: mudish brown F: thin beam of light)

Volare Indietro- An invisible force pushes the target backwards. (C: pink F: shaft of light)

Zauberauw- releases a beam of raw, powerful magic (C: depends on wizard F: huge ray of light)


	6. Voldemort's Gone?

I want to state that this story isn't going to be Harry battling Voldemort every opportunity. I'm trying to be a little realistic here (barring the whole magic thing of course). A sixteen year old taking on the most powerful Dark Lord in centuries, who has fifty years more experience in not only fighting but also in branches of magic Harry hasn't even heard of, is stupid. This isn't a Harry wakes up and is suddenly the most powerful wizard EVER story. This is a Harry progresses into his natural powers and capabilities as he ages. In my story the war isn't going to be over at the end of Harry's seventh year due to some crazy-random-happen-stance that allows an average teen wizard (as Rowling likes to portray Harry) to defeat a powerful Dark Lord. This specific story, which is the second out of four, will span most of Harry's sixth year and will be Harry training and honing his talents. The few times I do have Harry fighting Voldemort he will be getting his ass handed to him. If you want to read one where Harry kicks the shit out of Voldemort after coming into some weird power-upgrading inheritance or something like that then this story isn't for you.

I completely forgot to include Harry's OWL scores so...

Class: Letter Grade (Number Grade)(Class Ranking)

Astronomy: EE- (83) (20th)

Care of Magical Creatures: O (96) (3rd)

Charms: O (94) (5th)

Defense Against the Dark Arts: O+ (100) (1st)

Divination: D- (53) (30th)

Herbology: EE (89) (11th)

History of Magic: D+ (59) (37th)

Transfiguration: O+ (98) (2nd)

Potions: EE (84) (22th)

Class Rank: 14th (84 Overall)'

I am using the grading system in the United States, I understand it is different in the UK. In the U.S., at least in New York, 65 is the lowest score you can get for a passing grade, and that is a D. 94-100 is an A, 90-93 is an A-, 87-89 is a B+, 84-86 is a B, 80-83 is a B-, and so on. Anything below a 65 is considered an F, at least in high school. College gets a little more complicated because you need to achieve a C or higher if the class pertains to your major but can get a D- and still pass a general education class.

Chapter 6 Voldemort's Gone?

Kane cursed the Death Eaters for a fifth time as his team move slowly into the park. Scanners showed that four Death Eaters had appeared in this local park in a suburb near Manchester. Upon arrival the Death Eaters had attacked a group of seven muggles, including five children. Reports indicated they were still in the area, torturing the muggles.

"Death Eaters dead ahead," one of the Hit-Wizards back at Alpha Base stated, their voice coming from his ear piece. He had almost forgotten about the invisible drone above him, relaying everything back to Alpha Base.

"I see them," Kane responded. "Move in hard and fast."

The four Hit-Wizards moved forward quickly, fast and accurate spells flying from their wands. However, it seemed the Death Eaters knew they were there. Their first barrage of spells were shielded before return fire flew the Hit-Wizards way.

As Taylor dived away from a Killing Curse, Kane blocked the spells shot at him and blasted a Death Eater off their feet. They didn't appear to be the most qualified fighters, so his team should have an easy time.

"Now!" One of the Death Eaters shouted.

Kane looked around confused for a second before something to his right moved. A fully grown acromantula tackled Ellis to the ground, its pincers wrapping around the man's waist. The Death Eaters had kept the spider invisible and immobile so no one would know it was there until it was too late.

Kane hit the giant spider's front left leg with a cutter, which cut right through it. The spider reared its head back and shrieked in pain. Ellis fell from its grasp, his midsection nearly cut all the way through.

"There's another one!" Taylor shouted.

Kane looked up in time to dodge out of the way of a second acromantula. He blocked a curse from one of the three remaining Death Eaters and cursed his luck. This was not good. Hopefully, who ever was monitoring the situation would send in help, soon.

"Fall back!" Kane ordered.

Taylor and Jacobs moved back as quickly as possible, shielding from the Death Eaters and occasionally shooting a spell at the spiders. The fourth Death Eater staggered back to his feet and joined the fray. Kane knew they wouldn't be able to last long.

An explosion hex from Jacobs tore a large hole out of the side of an acromantula, causing the creature to wither in pain for a moment. Unfortunately, Jacobs was caught with a Killing Curse. As the second member of his team to go down collapsed, three pops filled the air. Two Auxiliaries and an Auror appeared in the area to the right of the Death Eaters. Where were the Hit-Wizards?

Taylor finished off the acromantula Jacobs had hit by nailing it in the face with an overpowered bludgeoner. The second acromantula launched itself at Taylor, who managed to duck underneath the spider's body but got clipped with a leg in the head. Taylor went down, knocked out cold.

Kane launched a wave of piercers, punching half a dozen holes into the spiders torso. The spider flailed around in pain for a moment before the final piercer caught it in its head. Its body went limp and slumped to the ground. Kane turned toward the Death Eaters just in time to see three of them disapparate away, the fourth one left on the ground, unconscious.

"Not that I don't appreciate the help but why weren't Hit-Wizards sent?" Kane asked.

One of the Auxiliaries looked at him with a sad look. "These attacks were distractions from the real target, the Hogwarts Express. The remaining Hit-Wizards, most of the Aurors and half of the Auxiliaries were sent to fight off the attack."

Kane cursed before looking at his fallen team. They were suppose to be the best in the Ministry. Those spiders had caught them unaware. Jacobs was dead, Taylor was knocked out and Ellis was on the brink of death.

"Get your man to St. Mungo's. We'll take care of the other two and get this mess cleaned up."

Kane nodded his head, moving over to the Ellis. The fallen Hit-Wizards chest was barely moving and there was a large puddle of blood underneath him. Kane reached into the med-kit on his belt and withdrew the Blood Replenisher. He forced the thing down Ellis' throat before grabbing the Hit-Wizard and disappearing with a large 'crack.'

* * *

Harry watched as Sirius got knocked off his feet seconds before Dumbledore intercepted Voldemort. The two most powerful wizards in the past century began dueling, their powerful display of magic almost mesmerizing. Anwell, knowing he had no part there, grabbed the wounded Sirius and dragged him off to a side.

Small groups of Death Eaters began arriving, coming in groups of threes and fours. They joined the fray, adding fresh troops to the Death Eaters already doing battle with the Ministry forces. The giant had finally been killed but it had taken out three Auxiliaries in the process. The new arrivals gave several Death Eaters the chance to slip away from the battle and onto the train, where the students still sat.

Harry put his wand between his teeth, hard enough to hold the piece of wood but not hard enough to mark it. He grabbed his broom with his left hand and swung himself over it, wincing as he jostled his dislocated right arm. He shot off at the train, flying over the heads of the dueling Death Eaters and Ministry forces.

He came to a stop at the juncture between train cars three and four. The locomotive and half of train car two had been blown up in the crash. Train car three had been crushed by the giant. He left his broom on the ground and climbed up into the undamaged car. The body of a seventh year Hufflepuff greeted him, the teen's stomach nothing more then a hole leaking guts and blood. He didn't have anytime to mourn for the teen though.

A Death Eater was outside a compartment door, shooting spells inside. He could see the telltale signs of a shield being cast from the compartment. A student was pinned down, and the enemy had left their back to him.

"_Expello_."

His spell caught the Death Eater in their side and threw them into the door at the opposite end of the car from Harry. The robed figure slumped to the ground, his neck at an odd angle. Harry moved forward toward the compartment.

"Friendly!" he shouted, before cautiously poking his head inside. He had to pull it back quickly though as a spell rocketed through the space his head just occupied. "Shit! I said fucking friendly!"

"Harry?" a female voiced asked.

"Yes Harry. You mind not decapitating me?"

"Sorry."

Harry moved into the compartment and saw Luna crouched behind a blockade she had made out of trunks. He had to give her credit, it was a very smart move. He didn't think he would have thought of it.

"What's going on?" she asked. "I thought we were winning."

Harry shook his head. "We were, kind of. More Death Eaters showed up and some got on the train."

Luna nodded her head. "You're arm is limp. Did you masturbate too hard?"

Harry gaped at Luna, blinking his eyes quickly. Did he just hear correctly. There was a battle going on and she asked him if his arm was limp because he masturbated too hard? "I...no."

Screams of someone being tortured came from the train car over.

"Stay here and watch my back, yeah?"

"Ok."

Harry moved out of the compartment wondering, not for the first, what drugs Luna Lovegood was taking. He stepped over the down Death Eater and slid open the door that separated the car he was in and the next one. Withering on the floor was Neville and standing over him, their mask off, was Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Want to join your parents wittle Longbottom?" Bellatrix cackled, her wand pointed at the trashing teen.

Harry jabbed his wand forward, a jet of light flying at the insane witch. Lestrange seemed to sense the spell and shielded herself from it just in time. She looked up at him, a wide and creepy grin making its way onto her face.

"What's this? Ittle baby Potter wants to play with Auntie Bella?"

Harry was forced to duck as a Killing Curse shot over his head. He returned fire with a powerful cutter before summoning Neville's limp form to himself. The cutter was blocked easily and a series of black beams of light came flying at him. Harry tried to block the curses but the first one blew through his shield. He threw himself into the compartment to his right in order to avoid the spells. He landed on his bad shoulder and the pain made black spots appear in his vision. However, he ignored it and instead scrambled forward and pulled Neville in behind him.

A powerful spell slammed into the door frame, blowing half of it into smithereens, showering Harry and Neville with splinters. Lestrange appeared in the doorway and before Harry could do anything she had disarmed him. She looked down on him, her face twisted into pure glee.

"I'm going to enjoy this Potter."

Her wand glowed an ugly looking purple. Harry lashed out with his foot, kicking her wand hand. Her arm snapped up, the curse slamming into the window and causing the defense magic on it to fail with a shower of sparks. Harry made to grab for one of his backup wands but found a bludgeoner catching him in his leg, fracturing his shin bone. He let out a grunt of pain, his face shifting into a grimace.

"Oh I'm definitely going to enjoy this."

Bellatrix raised her wand again. Harry braced himself for the spell but before it could come Bellatrix was sent flying over him and at the window. The magic reinforcing the window had failed after taking Bellatrix's curse and so it was just ordinary glass. Lestrange went right through it, shattering the window.

Harry looked into the corridor and saw Broderick Anwell standing there. The pureblood lord had a bloody lip and a large gash across his chest. He was breathing a little heavy and slowly, as if the process pained him. He walked over to the window and looked out, before cursing heavily.

"Lestrange is gone." Anwell looked down at Harry. "Are you alright Lord Potter?"

Harry sat up and winced. "I'll make it."

"The Death Eaters have fled. The casualties are...heavy."

* * *

Harry put down the prophet with a sigh. He sat in the hospital wing, one of nearly fifty students. It was the day after the attack. All the surviving students had been rounded up from the train. Those who were critically wounded were sent to St. Mungo's; almost nineteen of them. The rest were sent to Hogwarts, where many of them had been herded up to the see Madame Pomfrey. McGonagall had delayed the Welcoming Feast by a day. Dinner had been served to them by house-elves. None of the students spoke as the events of the day hit them.

Seamus Finnegan was dead. Bellatrix Lestrange had come upon the Irish teen before she had found Neville. Poor Seamus hadn't stood a chance and the pieces of his body had been put together as best as possible before he was sent to his family for burial. Lestrange had been more then brutal in her killing of the sixth year Gryffindor.

Megan Jones, a quiet Hufflepuff who he trained with all last year and during the summer had also died. She had been the one who was crushed by the giant as it destroyed train car three. Her body had been almost unrecognizable. There was no fixing of her body, her ruined corpse being sent to her muggle parents, who would never understand why their daughter died.

Seamus and Megan were just two of eleven students killed, including the Head Boy from Hufflepuff and three prefects; both Ravenclaw fifth years and a seventh year Gryffindor named Chris Mosby. Not to mention that Slytherin seventh year who been burned by the dragon, the seventh year Hufflepuff who had been disemboweled, the third year Hufflepuff with the snapped neck. Two first years, a half-blood and a muggle-born, had rounded out the list.

The Hit-Wizards had lost eighteen of its members, cutting their numbers by almost a third. Most had died during the raids that had happened before the Hogwarts Express attack. Apparently all of the Death Eater groups who had acted as the distractions had hidden beast with them, mostly acromantulas but one group had a manticore. It was the dark creatures that had caused most of the casualties. Two Hit-Wizards been killed dueling Voldemort. The Auxiliaries lost fourteen men and women dueling Death Eaters. The Aurors only lost six. All three suffered tons of wounded.

The Death Eaters had suffered to though. Twenty-three Death Eaters were reported dead, the only names Harry recognizing was Gregory Goyle Sr, who had joined his son in the afterlife, and Arnold Peasegoode, a former Ministry Obliviator. Another sixteen had been captured, including Theodore Nott Sr., Rabastan Lestrange, Roger Davies, who had dragged Ron into the Forbidden Forest a few months back, and Dexter Harper, who had been one of the Junior Death Eaters attacking students last year.

The numbers were skewed to be sure, with more of the Ministry forces dying but the Ministry wasn't using dark creatures to help fight their battles. All twenty of the acromantulas, the manticore, the dragon and the giant had been killed. Still it was the human numbers that the public really cared about.

The public was frothing at the mouth in anger. How had Dumbledore not known the Hogwarts Express was going to be a target? Why had he only assigned fifteen Auxiliaries to guard it? How incompetent were the Ministry's forces that they got their asses handed to them like that?

In order to appease the public, Dumbledore had taken several steps. The Hit-Wizards were severely understaffed at the moment. The current group of six rookies being trained had been forced into active duty with only half of their training being completed. The Aurors had temporarily transferred a handful of their best fighters to supplement the Hit-Wizards until their wounded got out of the hospital and a new group of recruits was rounded up. Dumbledore also hired four professional duelist off the dueling circuit, three of them British and one of them Irish. They would be joining the Hit-Wizards to help bolster their low numbers.

Several members of the disposal of dangerous beast group, otherwise known as Executioners, were being trained to go into combat. If anything like the surprise dark creatures used by the Death Eaters happened again, they would have trained specialist ready to deal with the situation. Additional security of highly obedient security trolls would be placed in Diagon Alley, the Ministry and Hogsmeade. He assured people Hogwarts had its own security measures in place.

Harry threw the paper on the side table as Madam Pomfrey came shuffling over. She checked to make sure his shattered leg was healing fine and that his dislocated shoulder wasn't going to fall out anytime soon. Once she was done she gave him permission to leave, as long as he used a cane to get around. Harry accepted the piece of wood with a nod of his head, this being the second time he had to walk with one due to breaking the bones in one of his legs.

He wasn't the only one being released. It seemed McGonagall wanted all those who were healthy enough to be at the Welcoming Feast, to try to make things seem normal. Harry knew there was no way it would be normal. The school year was already tainted, what with eleven students already dead before the year even started.

* * *

McGonagall talked about the tragedy of what happened at the Hogwarts Express. She talked about showing strength and how friendship and allowing others to help you, and not shutting yourself away from everyone, would make the process easier. Harry tuned her out. His generation would learn how to deal with the loss of loved ones, Voldemort would make sure of that.

"Now I would like to introduce to you the newest members of our staff."

That got Harry's attention. He knew about three of them but he wasn't sure of the others.

"Professor Bedeau has joined the Hit-Wizards. His replacement, a former Hit-Wizard himself, is Professor Jonathon Rousseau." An old man with short white hair and a heavily scarred face raised his hand and waved from his seat. Harry wondered why he didn't stand until glancing under the teachers table and seeing that the man couldn't stand; he had no legs.

"Since Professor Snape is still at St. Mungo's in a coma," here everyone glanced at Harry, "Julia Richards, who has recently acquired her Potions Masters, has agreed to take over Potions until Professor Snape returns." Julia stood up, smiling brightly at everyone and waving. Harry remembered her as the Head Girl during his second year. She was cute, with brown hair that only reached her chin.

"Taking over the post of Transfiguration, a former professor from the Fresno Institute of Magic in the United States, is Caitir McGonagall, and yes she is my daughter." A younger looking McGonagall stood and waved, though she didn't look nearly as severe. Her hair was a dark red and pulled back into a ponytail.

"With Kingsley Shacklebolt being recalled by the Ministry, the dueling post was in need of filling. Luckily we bring to you two duelist who recently participated in last years Junior European Dueling Tournament. Idalia Ortego made it to the quarter-finals." The Spanish pureblood heiress stood and waved. "We are also grateful to have the winner of the competition, Mr. Andre Peeters, here." The Belgium young man stood and waved as well.

"Finally, as some of you have noticed, we have guard animals posted all around the castle grounds. Helping take care of these animals, as well as assisting Professor Hagrid in his Care of Magical Creatures classes is Thyra Nyhus."

As Thyra stood and waved, Ron leaned over to Harry. "Hogwarts professors just got a lot better looking mate."

Harry had to agree. He already new Idalia was beautiful and Thyra was cute, but the addition of Julia, who was also cute, helped as well. Also, Caitir McGonagall was kind of pretty too, for an older broad. Who would have known anyone related to McGonagall could look anything other then stern?

The feast passed by rather quietly. Everyone was in a somber mood. Well mostly everyone. Harry couldn't help but glance at the Slytherins, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws he had seen in the last few train cars. They had known about the attack. That meant they were either Death Eaters themselves or they knew someone, most likely an older family member, who was one.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted as a mouse quickly scurried on his plate. Before he or anyone could react the mouse transformed into a scrap of parchment. Harry looked at it in a brief moment of confusion before snatching the note up. McGonagall was requesting his presence after the feast. The password was catnip.

McGonagall stood, the desserts clearing from the table. She surveyed the students with somber eyes. "I can assure you that what happened yesterday will not take place on Hogwarts grounds. Inside these walls you are safe. The wards on Hogwarts are the strongest in the world. It would take a team of a hundred curse breakers several weeks to tear them down.

"Patrolling these grounds are forty members of the Rangers of Avalon." Murmurs went up around the hall as Harry looked around in confusion. "There is also twenty griffins and a cerberus on the ground for additional security."

"Bloody hell, not Fluffy again," Ron mumbled, hitting his head against the table.

"Who are the Rangers of Avalon?" Harry asked, confused beyond all belief.

"The Rangers of Avalon are an old order of wizards who specialize in the light arts. They've been around since the middle of the Roman empire. Witches and wizards who specialize in light magic are offered the chance to join when they graduate school. Rumor was that Dumbledore was offered a chance but he didn't want to leave his fiance. They train on the Island of Avalon," Neville explained.

"Isn't Avalon in the United Kingdom?" Harry questioned.

Ron snorted. "Harry, every witch and wizard knows Avalon is in the Mediterranean Sea, exactly in between Sicily, Italy and Sardinia. The Rangers of Avalon used to have hundreds of members but witches and wizards don't specialize in the light arts like they used to. Plus, ever since the Magical Church created the Order of David, the two organizations have been in competition over recruits, though the Order of David only takes Christians."

"Magical Church? Order of David?" Every time someone explained something to Harry he just got more and more confused.

"The Magical Church was started in the 1600's by a muggle-born wizard who's father was a priest. Jesus was magical but he did magic even today know one has any idea how he did. They were truly miraculous feats, even for a wizard. The Magical Church combines magical history with the Bible to create a religion that can be followed by magical people who are Christians and don't want to give up their religion. The Order of David was created several years after the Magical Church, during muggle persecution of witches and wizards, as protectors of magical Christians. Now a days they mostly go after vampires, werewolves and the few demons that manage to make their way into our realm. Van Helsing was the most famous member of the Order of David."

Harry looked at Hermione with his mouth agape for a second before remembering that Hermione read, a lot. It was only natural that she knew a lot about magical history, even that which didn't pertain to the United Kingdom.

"Right. So the Rangers of Avalon recognize Voldemort as a threat, apparently a dark threat since they are light wizards. In order to help fight him, they send men to guard Voldemort's most desired target, Hogwarts. They hope that the men they have posted here will prevent him from attacking."

The others nodded at Harry's word. Harry vowed that he would read up more on the history of magical society. He was tired of looking like an idiot when it came to the world he was now a part of.

* * *

Harry arrived at the Headmistress' office ten minutes after everyone had left the feast. He had decided to take the long way, instead of using the various shortcuts he knew. The gargoyle was the same as ever, staring grumpily on ahead.

"Catnip."

The gargoyle sprang away and the revolving staircase appeared. Harry stepped onto it and let it carry him up to the door. Stepping forward he knocked, something he had never done to enter this office because Dumbledore always knew he was there.

"Come in," McGonagall called.

Harry pushed open the door and saw, to his surprise, that half the staff appeared to be present. Idalia, Thyra, Andre, Flitwick, Hagrid, Julia Richards and Caitir McGonagall.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do," Harry stated quickly.

Idalia and Hagrid both snorted in amusement. While McGonagall merely shook her head. "You aren't in trouble Mr. Potter. Moody wants a full Order meeting tonight and wanted us to make sure you were there as well."

"Oh."

McGonagall nodded to her daughter, who stood up and walked to the fireplace. Grabbing a pinch of floo powder, the younger McGonagall tossed the powder into the fireplace and shouted, "Gryffindor Manor," before stepping in and disappearing.

One by one, everyone did the same and soon Harry found himself in a friendly sitting room. He followed the people that actually knew where they were going. After a few twist and turns down the richly decorated hallways, they came upon a large dining room. The place was filled with people, some of whom Harry didn't recognize.

"I did a little recruiting of my own," a voice whispered into his ear.

Harry jumped in the air and turned with his wand drawn, only to see Moody grinning like a maniac behind him.

"Merlin's beard Mad-Eye! You'll beat Voldemort to the punch if you keep scaring the shit out of me like that," Harry snapped.

"Constant vigilance!" Moody all but roared into his ear.

Harry stuck a finger in his ear and twisted it. "And now I'm deaf."

"You met Julia Richards, or Professor Richards to you. She's our new Potions Mistress. Professor Caitir McGonagall is another new fighter, she's not as good as her mom but she's better then your average Death Eater. Then you got Lawrence O'Reilly."

Moody nodded toward an old man who looked to be as old as Moody himself was, which would put him somewhere in his early 70's. He had long, lanky gray hair and a square looking face. A scar ran across the left side of his jaw line and he had beady blue eyes. His body was average height and stocky.

"Lawrence is an Irish Hit-Wizard. When Voldemort started attacking the Irish, he and I worked a lot of cases together. Great fighter, still has a lot left in his tank. There's Francis Coates."

Moody pointed toward a tall and skinny bald man. Everything about the man screamed meek, from his pale features to his large, wide eyes hidden under bushy eyebrows. He looked like the silent type, the one who would be better of following then trying to do something on his own.

"He's a Medi-Wizard from St. Mungo's. Figured to pair him with Vance, so we wouldn't have to bother Pomfrey much. Very good at reattaching lost limbs. Unfortunately, he's only been around for a few years." Moody tapped the wooden peg that made up the lower half of his right leg. "Finally you got Montgomery Riggs."

Harry noticed the old man before Moody nodded toward him. He looked ancient, older then Dumbledore even. He was practically bald with only a few wisp of white hair sticking up from his head. He had a rather large nose, eyes that were practically white and too many wrinkles to count. Harry wondered how the man could be of any use to the Order.

"Riggs is a spy. He's too old to be a Death Eater himself, nearing almost a hundred and sixty, but he's filthy rich. He started financing the Death Eaters at my request. Already turned over several names of those working for Voldemort we didn't know."

Harry had added fourteen fighters to the Order. Moody had added two more fighters, another medic, a potions expert and a spy. Compared to what he saw Voldemort throwing into battle the other day, it didn't seem like a lot. However, when you added it to the Ministry's forces, it might be enough to actually do something. At least he hoped so. He hated when Voldemort came away with the upper hand. The Dark Lord was such an arrogant bastard when he won.

"Take your seats everyone!" Mad-Eye shouted next to Harry, causing Harry to wince and rub his ear again.

"I'm getting you a muzzle for Christmas," Harry muttered, as he moved to an open seat next to Idalia.

"Now, as for the main reason why this meeting was called for tonight, I give the floor to Riggs."

The old man struggled to his feet, shooing away the helping hand offered by Bill Weasley. "I got it, I got it," the man mumbled as he finally got to his feet. "You-Know-Who considers yesterday a major failure. Despite the casualties they inflicted, a third of his followers are either dead or in jail. He realizes that the United Kingdom is too prepared to handle him and his followers right now. There are still a lot of veteran Aurors and Hit-Wizards from the last war that aren't to be cowed by his tactics again. So he, along with Rookwood, Dolohov and Bellatrix, Rabastan and Rodulphus Lestrange have all left the country."

Silence met his words. Harry raised his hand. "I'm sorry what?"

"You heard me you clodhopper*!"

Harry leaned over to Idalia. "Did he just call me a clodhopper?"

Idalia giggled into her hand. "It seems so."

Riggs gave a mighty huff and glared at Harry. "Voldemort knows he's going to need more followers to take over the United Kingdom but he's run out of patience. He wants to go somewhere that isn't prepared for him, somewhere he doesn't have the likes of Dumbledore and Potter to foil him."

Harry nudged Idalia and pointed at himself while mouthing, 'that's me. I'm Potter!' Idalia smiled at him and rolled her eyes. Riggs, unaware of what Harry was doing, continued:

"So he took some of his best followers and he's traveling to Eastern Europe, where there is a underground faction of purebloods who support him. He's going to gather them together and start taking over Eastern Europe. Once he does that he's going to raise an army and come back here."

"Does Dumbledore know about this?" McGonagall asked.

"I've passed the information along," Moody answered.

"This is good isn't it?" Dung asked, looking around.

"Are you stupid?" Krum asked, his voice suggesting he already knew the answer. "The nations of Eastern Europe are not ready for such an uprising. They have been in peace since Grindelwald was defeated. If Voldemort was to launch a surprise attack on one of the magical governments, he would only need seventy or eighty followers to overthrow them. Probably less since there is no Dumbledore there to prevent Voldemort from slaughtering everyone himself!"

"Not to mention many countries in Eastern Europe are dominated by bigoted pureblood aristocrats, some much worse then here in Britain," Thyra added.

"Why not take everyone of his followers with him?" Andre questioned.

O'Reilly cleared his throat and looked around. "Probably left them behind to distract Dumbledore. If Dumbledore has to worry about his own country still, he won't go rushing off to help someone else. Plus from the way Riggs said it, seems like he'll get the support he needs in those other countries, no need to bring his own."

"Right," Harry trailed off for a second. "So lets go kick the shit out of the Death Eaters he left behind, yeah?"

Moody laughed for a few seconds. "While I admire you're attitude Potter, it isn't that simple. Their old headquarters was abandoned after the failed attempt at kidnapping you in May. We don't know where they are."

"True but we know who they are. We have names. Plus, before the attack on the Hogwarts Express, I saw a lot of students who don't usually sit at the back of the train, sitting in the last three train cars. Students like Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Barry Chalke and Theodore Nott."

The Headmistress gave Harry a reluctant looked. "You are saying that almost 90 students knew of the attack on the train. You are implying that they are Death Eaters."

"Maybe not Death Eaters themselves but they know someone who is. If I give you the memory you can get all the names and start looking at family members for them. Help us find out who are Death Eaters and who aren't."

Moody tapped his chin thoughtfully for a few seconds. "Give me that memory Potter and I'll look into it." Harry nodded his head.

"Does anyone have anything else to report?"

"Right, then this meeting is over. Be ready though people. Potter is right, with Voldemort and some of his best fighters gone, this would be a prime time for us to attack."

* * *

Clodhopper - A clumsy, unsophisticated person. Slang used in the 1800's.


	7. Not Again

Someone asked what is the Areani. That will come later. In Chapter 10 to be precise; at least if I stick to the outlines I have for each chapter. The next few chapters will be a build up as to why Areani are needed. There will be an increase in the war as both of the sides start to take a more active approach in getting rid of each other. The chapters will also start getting longer and more things start to happen.

Chapter 7 Not Again

Professor Rousseau floated into the room on a hovering chair, which Harry guessed was the magical version of a wheelchair. The old professor made his way to the front of the room and stared everyone in the eyes for several seconds.

"In the last war, my team was dispatched to defend a young family of muggles. A father, a mother and their two daughters, one seven and the other five. When we arrived, the Death Eaters were still in the process of raping the mother and the daughters. The father had just died, stabbed in the stomach and left their to bleed out. The last thing he ever saw was the brutal violation of his wife and children.

"The problem for us was, there was nine Death Eaters and only four of us Hit-Wizards. We managed to catch them with their pants down, literally, and killed two of them. However, their numbers overwhelmed us. I was hit with an overpowered bone-breaker that shattered the bones in both my legs. As I lay on the ground, trying to do my best to assist, my team was killed in front of my eyes. Jackson, the team leader, caught a piercing hex in his left eye that blew out the back of his head. Adams, our rookie, got hit with a bludgeoner that broke his ribs, which proceeded to puncture his lungs. He lasted for two minutes before he suffocated.

"Wilson tried escaping but they severed his Achilles tendon with a cutting curse and he collapsed. They took Wilson's wand and proceeded to cast the Imperius on the mother and the two daughters. They then proceeded to make the females eat Wilson alive, cum and blood still dripping down their naked thighs. Then when Wilson was dead they took the Imperius off the daughters and had the mother beat her children to death. Once that was done, they took the Imperius off the mother. She went catatonic at everything she had just done and witnessed so they left her to suffer in her own mind.

"As for me, the Death Eaters had disarmed me and made me watch everything. Once the show was over they cast a flesh-eating curse at my feet and left me, thinking the curse would work its way up my body until I died. Fortunately for me, or unfortunately, I still haven't decided yet, a reserve team was sent to find out what happened to us and I was saved, though my legs were lost."

Everyone stared at Professor Rousseau with wide eyes, some people looking sick. It certainly wasn't what they were expecting the first day of class to be like. However, it showed them what they were up against. The kind of atrocities Death Eaters committed whenever they could.

Harry glanced back at Malfoy, wondering if his father was one of the Death Eaters involved. Draco was the only person in the room who didn't look a little squeamish at the story. Instead a half-crazy grin was on his face and he seemed to be enjoying himself. Something was definitely wrong with Draco Malfoy.

"Potter!"

Harry jumped in his seat and turned back around. The professor was looking at him as if deciding how worthy Harry actually was.

"You got a perfect score on your defense exam, plus a citation for performing magic beyond NEWT level. Do you think I have nothing to teach you?"

Harry had been taught dueling by Sirius, Remus, Moody and Kingsley. He had been taught tactics by Moody, powerful magics by Dumbledore and how to slay dark creatures from James Macnie. He had been the runner up in the Junior European Dueling Tournament and battled Death Eaters, acromantulas, a dragon and a giant. Sirius had taught him to read body language and to fight as part of a team. He had let someone die rather then try to help them and had just killed someone, though unintentional it may have been. He had spent weeks pouring over the history of Voldemort, to know him as well as the Dark Lord knew himself. Hell he had faced the Dark Lord and gotten away with his life on four separate occasions, something only Dumbledore could top.

"No. I know you do," Harry answered honestly. "It is a wise man who admits he knows nothing."

"Good Potter. Only a fool thinks they have nothing to learn from anyone. Usually, this year you'd be learning solely about the darker curses out there, their counter-curses and how to defend against them. I'll still teach you that but I'm also going to teach you about the last war and the tactics used by the Death Eaters to prepare you for what you face. This won't be a fun class."

* * *

The new transfiguration professor was also the new head of Gryffindor, passing the lion's den from one McGonagall to another. The post of head of Gryffindor had been offered to Professor Vector, a former Gryffindor in the 1960's but she had declined as she liked to spend most of her time in Hogsmeade with her small children. Caitir was a Gryffindor in the 1970's, and being the only other qualified former Gryffindor in the castle (Hagrid was a Gryffindor but...you know) she was offered the post.

She was similar to her mom in that she was a no nonsense kind of authority figure, both in the classroom and out of it. However, she was still more laid back then the new Headmistress, though that really wasn't saying too much. Still, she made the effort to try to get to know her older Gryffindors by calling them into brief meetings, which is where Harry found himself now.

"You're parents were two years ahead of me at Hogwarts." Caitir stated. "I had such a crush on your father."

"Did you know them well?" Harry asked, always interested in hearing about his parents.

Caitir shook her head. "No. I was very shy and both your parents were very popular. Your father was amazing at Transfiguration, probably as good as Dumbledore was at that age. The Headmistress tells me you have his ability as well."

"I'm good with the practical but some of the theory still escapes me," Harry admitted.

"I saw some of your transfiguration use in the dueling tournament. You're very skilled for your age but I have to wonder if its only the use of transfiguration in dueling that interest you."

Harry thought about it for a moment. "It isn't that I'm not interested. It's just that with Voldemort and his Death Eaters after me I need to learn how to fight and survive. Everything else takes a back seat."

The Transfiguration professor nodded her head in understanding. "You know, since you seem to have an affinity for Transfiguration, and given what the Headmistress has told me about your father being an animagus, I think you have a good chance of being an animagus yourself. I can help you find out and train you into becoming one."

Harry snorted but quickly tried to explain himself at the frown that appeared on the professor's face. "I'm sorry its just that, well, I already am an animagus. I've been one since March."

Caitir's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really? Did you have any help? How long did it take?"

"Sirius showed me how to get started and gave me pointers on what to do. He checked my status every few weeks to make sure I was progressing along nicely. And it took me about nine months."

"Can you show me your form?"

Harry looked around the office. "The room is kind of small."

Caitir leaned back in her chair. "What are you?"

"A black tiger."

* * *

"Oh Ronnie poo!" Harry cried, bouncing on Ron's bed.

Ron mumbled something Harry couldn't hear and rolled over. The redhead pulled his blanket higher over his head. Harry grabbed Ron's extra pillow and hit him with it.

"Gerroff Harry," Ron muttered.

"The potion came in today. You want to finally become an animagus or what?" Harry asked.

Ron turned over and threw the blankets off his face. "It came?"

Harry held out a vial and shook it in Ron's face. "Hedwig delivered it to me about twenty minutes ago."

"Well then what are we waiting for mate? I've been waiting a year to become one. Let's do this!"

Harry rolled his eyes and hopped off Ron's bed as the teen rushed around and began getting ready. He spared a glance at the spot Seamus' bed used to sit. It was hardest on Dean, who was Seamus' best friend. Though none of the other three would say anything, the first few nights they had heard Dean sobbing before going to sleep.

Harry shook his head, trying not to go down that road. Today was suppose to be a good day, a fun day. Ron was excited, but Harry could tell he was also nervous as hell. Being the good friend he was, he decided to ease his friends nerves.

"Didn't know you'd be this excited to find out you're a dung beetle," Harry stated, a wide grin on his face.

Ron stopped, a shirt halfway on, and looked at Harry with a frightened expression. "You think I'm gonna be a dung beetle?"

"Well I mean, it makes sense," Harry answered, his grin widening.

"Blimey mate, I don't think I'd like being a dung beetle."

"For the love of god Ron, he's taking the mickey out of you. Now will both of you get the hell out of the room, I'm trying to sleep!" Neville's voice called from his four-poster bed.

"It's 10 am on a Saturday Nev. We're starting training for the year tomorrow, you should start getting used to waking up early again," Harry responded.

"I'll get use to it tomorrow, now shut the bloody hell up."

Harry and Ron stared at each other with raised eyebrows. "Remember when Neville was just a shy little bloke?" Ron reminisced.

Harry nodded his head. "Yeah. Remember when we had to curse him in our first year because he tried preventing us from fighting Voldemort?"

"Oh my god, if you two don't shut up, I'm coming out cursing."

"What happened to our poor little Neville?" Ron asked, shaking his head in mock shame. "He use to be such a good boy."

"That's it!"

Harry gave Ron a shove and they both ran from the room, Ron finishing pulling down his shirt. A spell hit the stone next to the doorway as the two friends ran through it, laughing. They stumbled out into the common room where a few Gryffindors were gathered.

"What are you two up to?" Hermione asked, spotting her best friends and the large grins on their faces.

Harry and Ron moved over to the brunette, where she sat with Parvati and Lavender. Harry noticing that Lavender Brown was definitely checking out Ron and Parvati refused to look at him, still. He held up the vial containing the animagus potion. Hermione leaned forward and read it.

"Oh! Can I come? I wasn't there for yours Harry, and I'm curious as to the process."

"Sure. We'll be the first ones to see Ron turn into a dung beetle."

"I'm not going to be a dung beetle!" Ron wailed, causing everyone in the common room to look at him.

Hermione snorted as Harry gave Ron another shove, this time pushing the taller teen toward the portrait hole. The trio climbed out of the Gryffindor common room and began making their way over to the Room of Requirement.

"Lavender Brown was checking you out," Harry said, nonchalantly.

"Who me?" Ron asked.

"No Hermione. Of course you, you idiot."

"Are you lying to me?"

Harry looked at Ron with a hurt expression. "Would I ever lie to you?"

Ron shot Harry a look. "Remember that time during winter break last year when you gave me a piece of candy and you swore it tasted like bacon? It was actually a prototype Canary Cream. I was a giant canary for three hours."

"I was testing Fred and George's product! Didn't want my investment going to waste," Harry stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, I wouldn't lie about a girl fancying you mate. Would I want you to make a fool of yourself?"

"Yes," Ron deadpanned.

"Point well taken."

"He's telling the truth Ron. Lavender talks about you in the dorms a lot."

"Hey," Harry exclaimed, "look who decided to join our conversation."

Ron looked thoughtful at Hermione's statement. Harry knew the teen was contemplating if he liked Lavender enough to do anything with her. Harry, who had gotten his lessons from Sirius, figured how would you know exactly how much you liked her, if you didn't try anything first.

They arrived at the Room of Requirement, Harry being the one who walked back and forth in front of the wall three times. The door appeared, Hermione opening it and moving into the room first. The room was a basic room, with a couch for Hermione and Harry to sit on and a circle for containment magic on the floor.

Without a word, Harry handed the vial to Ron, who took it from him with shaky hands. Ron stepped into the containment circle and took a deep breath. Hermione tapped the circle with her wand, making it glow brightly as the latent magic was activated. Harry and Hermione both took a seat on the couch as Ron downed the vial.

"You know Harry, I've never seen your form," Hermione pointed out as they stared at Ron.

"I've only transformed a few times after achieving it. Remus and Sirius let me join them for full moons during the summer. Sirius might have a hard time keeping a werewolf at bay but a tiger has no problem at all. A werewolf is quicker and more agile but a tiger is stronger and bigger. Plus, once a tiger starts gaining speed it can outrun a werewolf."

Ron tapped his foot, getting impatient. "Your transformation was instantaneous, why is mine taking so long?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "It's different for everyone. And you might want to sit down, otherwise you're going to..." Ron's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he pitched forward, slamming his face into the ground. "Faceplant it," Harry finished, chuckling.

"Does it hurt?" Hermione asked, twisting a lock of hair between her fingers.

"Yup."

Ron twitched around for several minutes as his body took on another form. Finally he stood up in his animal form. His head swiveled toward Harry and Hermione and he started barking, accompanied by a low growl in his throat.

"What kind of dog is that?" Harry asked, tilting his head.

"It's not a dog Harry, at least not exactly. It's a dingo, a wild dog from Australia" Hermione explained.

Ron was a little over two feet tall at his shoulders and four and a half feet long from nose to tail tip. If Harry had to guess he probably weighed a good seventy pounds, maybe a little less. The dingo had a relatively broad head, a pointed muzzle, and erect ears. Ron's eyes were still brown and he was covered in a reddish-brown fur with white around his paws and his underbelly.

"Ron's bigger then me and will probably end up being bigger than Sirius, but he's the smallest animal out of the three."

"How long does the potion induced transformation last?" Hermione asked.

"Ten minutes."

Ron growled lowly at them and backed up as much as possible, until his ass hit the invisible wall. The dingo looked behind him, unable to understand why he couldn't move back any farther. He tried a few more times before giving up and just content to sit there, growling at the both of them.

"He's got it lucky. When I first transformed, I kept trying to attack Ron and the rest of them and I ended up slamming my head against the barrier a dozen times or so," Harry told Hermione. "Had the worst headache when it was over."

Slowly Ron shifted back into his human form and looked at his two best friends with a slightly dazed look on his face. "Ow." Ron rubbed his nose, which still hurt from him faceplanting it. "Well? What am I?" he demanded.

"I was wrong mate, you aren't a dung beetle," Harry sighed as Ron smirked at him. "You're a praying mantis."

Ron paled and looked slightly ill. Harry started laughing and Hermione, through her giggles, decided to help Ron out.

"You're a dingo Ron. It's a wild dog from Australia."

Ron perked up at that and stuck his tongue out at Harry. "So how big am I?"

"Roughly two feet at the shoulders, four and a half feet from nose to tail tip and sixty-five to seventy pounds."

Ron frowned at the news. "Doesn't sound too big."

"Well when you compare it to my almost seven hundred pound, nine and a half foot long kitty, you aren't that big at all mate," Harry replied, grinning.

Ron punched Harry in the shoulder. Hermione, ever the scholar, had a thoughtful look on her face for a few seconds.

"For a canine, you're bigger then your average coyote, jackal, fox and most domestic dogs. However, wolves and the larger dogs like German Shepards, Irish Wolfhounds and Mastiffs, are all bigger then you. Most wolves are around ninety pounds, though some species can get as big as one hundred and fifty pounds, and same with some of the bigger dogs."

"Sirius has eighty or so pounds on you but Sirius is a wolf-dog mutt. Would that make him a wog or a dolf?"

"Ignoring Harry, you might not be that big compared to some animals but it could have been worse. You could have ended up as a dung beetle."

That seemed to put things in perspective for Ron. A dingo might not have been the large predator he was hoping for but it was better than so many other animals out there. Besides, being a dog had its advantages.

"Come on Ron, let's go get you a collar and leash. I hope your house-trained."

"I hate you sometimes Harry. I really do."

Harry and Ron began to walk out the room, bantering and trading insults with each other.

"Harry, wait."

Harry turned toward Hermione. "Yeah Hermione, what's up?"

"Can you show me your form?"

"Oh, yeah sure."

Harry walked back toward the center of the room and screwed up his face in concentration. It was slow going but eventually a black and white striped tiger stood in Harry's place. The tiger stretched out and let out a mighty roar, showing off its sharp teeth. It paced around the room, circling around Hermione and Ron as if they were prey. Eventually, Harry shifted back to his regular self.

"The process gets faster the more you do it. Eventually, I'll be able to do it as quickly and effortlessly as Sirius but that's probably a couple dozen more transformations away," Harry explained.

"I didn't realize black tigers even existed," Hermione stated.

Harry scratched the back of his head. "They are extremely rare. In fact I think it would be more accurate if you were to say I was a white tiger with thicker then normal black stripes. Something to do with melanism or something like that. I did some research when I found out what I was."

* * *

"Right, that should be all for today. Same time tomorrow yeah?"

All the teens muttered their agreements as they began to leave the room, dripping sweat as they went. It was the end of the second week of school, and the first week since they started training again. Classes were going surprisingly well as the professors were teaching more then the criteria called for and were putting more pressure on the students to perform well and study hard. Most of the students, realizing the dangers that faced them outside the walls, tried their hardest to learn everything they could.

The training was focusing more on fighting right now, as the students hadn't been able to handle most of the Death Eaters in a straight one on one duel. Harry himself knew he would get beaten soundly by Inner Circle members and probably a few of the older regulars. They were veterans of a war and had dozens of years of experience on him, it was only natural.

Thyra, Idalia and Andre had taken to joining their students in the training. However with Fred, George, Angelina, Katie and Jeff Summerby graduating last year, Wayne being killed in the forest and Seamus and Megan being killed on the Hogwarts Express, their numbers had still dwindled a little. Anthony Goldstein still came around, though he walked with a heavy limp and had a cane on hand for when walking became to difficult. After getting hit with that giant's club, Anthony wouldn't be able to walk properly the rest of his life.

The others injured on the Hogwarts Express had made full recovery, though Neville seemed more withdrawn and moodier after running into Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry didn't blame the teen after all. It was the first time he had come face to face with one of his parents torturers. Harry had informed Neville of what happened to Barty Crouch Jr., hoping the man's fate would offer some solace to the teen. He wasn't sure it had worked.

Hermione informed him that more and more students would probably start joining the morning training sessions once they found out it was going on. Harry didn't know if he liked that idea. While he knew the students needed to know how to defend themselves, the new comers wouldn't be at the level of everyone else. Everyone there, with the exception of the three new professors, had been training for almost a year together, staying in shape and improving their fighting. Two of the young professors were professional junior duelist and the third was an amateur junior duelist, which meant they had stayed in pretty good shape and were constantly working on improving their fighting skills.

"Harry?"

The teen in question turned at the voice and saw Cho standing a few feet behind him. She had hit her head pretty hard when the express had crashed, fracturing her skull. However, she had been given a clean bill of health from St. Mungo's two days ago.

"Hey Cho," Harry greeted. His crush on the Asian witch had disappeared after Cedric had died. He didn't think it right crushing on a dead guy's girl, especially since he had been friends with Cedric and had witnessed his death.

"I heard you took on a dragon during the attack."

Harry rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, not my brightest moment."

"I wish I could have helped. I felt so useless when I woke up in the hospital and found out what happened."

Cho looked like she might start crying. Harry had heard she had been a weeping mess for months after Cedric had died. Apparently she use to be a very emotional teen but sometime around Christmas last year, when she snapped out of her funk over Cedric, she had become more emotionless.

"You couldn't have known," Harry stated, reaching out and putting his hand comfortingly on her shoulder.

Cho threw herself into Harry, catching him off guard. She wrapped her arms around his midsection and buried her face in his chest.

"You're always taking on the odds to protect people."

Harry awkwardly patted Cho's back. "I've been told I have a hero complex."

Cho looked up at Harry, who found himself staring into her eyes. It used to be he felt a flutter in his chest every time he looked at her. Now there was no flutter. He still found her attractive but that was the extent of it.

"Its one of the better things about you."

Harry was going to answer but found himself unable to due to Cho's lips covering his own. Her kiss was wild and desperate and he found himself returning it more in surprise than anything else. Her hands grasped at his shirt as she clung to him as if she let go of her hold she would fall. After twenty seconds Harry pulled away, panting lightly.

"Cho, I'm not looking for a relationship right now," Harry stated, honestly. "Not with everything starting to go to hell like it is."

"I'm not either. I...I just need to feel something, anything, besides this dull ache. You're always helping people Harry. Help me, please."

Things must have been harder for Cho then anyone realized. It seemed like she shut herself down emotionally after months of grieving for Cedric. Harry wondered what he would do if he lost someone that close to him. How would he respond if he was to lose Sirius?

The room they were in began to shift, the training grounds they usually used vanishing. The walls and ceiling shrank as a bed popped up to the left of Harry. He almost jumped in surprise at the bed suddenly appearing.

"Cho?" Harry looked into her eyes, searching to see if this is what she really wanted.

"Make me feel something other then pain Harry. I need to feel something other then pain."

* * *

"Harry do you know where Ron is?" Lavender asked.

Harry, who was currently chewing on a piece of steak, shrugged his shoulders. Lavender frowned at him and he quickly swallowed what was in his mouth.

"I haven't seen him or Neville since Defense ended," Harry stated. "I think they said something about raiding the kitchens for a snack before dinner but that was over an hour ago."

Lavender nodded her head and turned back toward Parvati. Harry shook his head and went back to eating his meal. Lavender was becoming quite interested in Ron and was trying to spend as much time with him as possible. This made it harder for the Golden Trio and Neville to discuss things about the war no one else knew.

"It's not like Ron to miss a meal," Hermione pointed out.

"True but he could have just stuffed his face in the kitchens. He's done it before."

Hermione nodded her head. A lot of times, once Ron started eating he didn't slow down until his stomach was about to explode. Neville on the other hand wasn't like that, so his absence was a more curious case.

The doors to the Great Hall slammed open, causing some of the students to jump in surprise. Standing in the doorway, his face grim, was Moody. The leader of the Order of the Phoenix walked slowly up to the high table, his wooden leg making a clunking noise every other step. Everyone had turned and was watching the ex-Auror's progress. He reached the head table and rather then talking to McGonagall turned and faced the students.

"Exactly three hours ago, You-Know-Who and over sixty Death Eaters stormed the government building in Bulgaria."

Whispers broke out amongst the hall. It had only been two weeks since Voldemort had left the United Kingdom behind, though not many knew he had left the country. Already he had gathered to himself sixty followers in Eastern Europe. Harry had hoped they would have more time before something like this happened, at least til Halloween. The Ministry was still trying to recover from the casualties suffered during the Hogwarts Express attack.

"They killed over a hundred Bulgarian ministry employees, including several lords on their Council of Nobles." Moody's eyes swept over the Great Hall. "Voldemort has taken over rule of Bulgaria."

Harry cursed loudly as a flurry of shouts and conversations started sweeping the hall. "How could it have gone down so fucking easily?"

"Bulgaria's system is an aristocratic government ruled by bigoted purebloods lords, called the Council of Nobles. Most muggle-borns and a good amount of half-bloods immigrate out of Bulgaria as soon as they can because half-bloods are second-class citizens and muggle-borns are even lower. Those muggle-borns that don't leave the country, generally leave the magical world behind and integrate into the muggle world after their schooling finishes."

Harry looked at Hermione, shocked that she knew such information. "How do you know all that?"

Hermione blushed under his gaze. "Viktor told me when he invited me to visit him in Bulgaria. Although I don't understand how telling me his government hates muggle-borns would have encouraged me to visit him."

Harry nodded his head in understanding. "So Voldemort probably didn't even really overthrow the government at all, he just got rid of those who didn't want to give him control of it."even

"It makes sense."

Harry ran his hand through his air and sighed. "Things just seem to be getting worse and worse."

Harry got up and made his way over to Moody, who was talking frantically with McGonagall.

"So what now?" Harry asked, interrupting their conversation.

Moody and McGonagall turned to look at Harry. "The International Confederation of Wizards has called an emergency session which will take place two days from now. When all that blustering and posturing is over with, Dumbledore said he'll call a Wizengamot meting to discuss the United Kingdom's options," Moody explained.

"Are we going to try to take back Bulgaria?" Harry demanded.

Moody shrugged his shoulders. "Hard to tell kid. If the other nations offer their support, then we might be marching off to war. However, the United Kingdom doesn't have the man power to do anything on its own. Hell we still got seventy to eighty Death Eaters roaming free here we have to worry about."

"Don't worry Potter, we'll keep you inform of what goes on," McGonagall stated.

Harry nodded his head before turning around and going back to his spot at the Gryffindor table. He sat back down and went to take a bite out of his cold food but stopped as someone was trying to get his attention.

"Harry!"

Harry looked up and saw a pale faced Romilda Vane running towards him. Hermione had told him that the younger student had a huge crush on him. While he admitted she was pretty and she seemed nice enough during the morning training sessions, he was little creeped out by her; she had a staring problem.

"Yeah Romilda?" Harry asked.

"Ginny sent me to fetch you. Ron and Neville are in the Hospital Wing. We think they were attacked. They're in pretty bad shape."

Harry quickly stood with another curse. "Tell me we have another group of fucking attackers."

Hermione stood up as well and they walked quickly down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. Harry felt himself being watched and turned his head to the Slytherin table. There sat Draco Malfoy, a vicious smirk on his face as he eyed Harry as if he was prey to be toyed with. Harry wondered to himself, was Draco smirking because of Voldemort's triumph, or was he smirking because he knew what had happened to Ron and Neville.


	8. Coalitions

Chapter 8 Coalitions

"They were attacked! You can't dispute that! That's spell damage right there," Harry cried, jabbing his fingers at Ron and Neville. Both of the teens were in a coma and no one knew when they were going to wake up.

"We can't go making baseless accusations Potter. We have no idea who or what did this! There are no witnesses and Aurors can't detect a wand trace and can't get a read on a magical signature," McGonagall explained.

"You got to be kidding! This is like last year all over again. Students are getting attacked and everyone's too afraid to upset a few people to find out who the attackers are," Harry accused.

McGonagall glared at Harry. "We aren't afraid Mr. Potter. We just have no leads! We can't go around dosing every student with truth potions!"

"You want a lead? Talk to Malfoy."

"I know of your rivalry with Mr. Malfoy, but there is no need to accuse him of something if you have no proof."

"Besides the fact that he's always starting things with us? And have you seen him this year? There's something wrong with that kid. He's fucking insane!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Potter but your opinion on the matter isn't enough," McGonagall stated, sternly.

Harry growled low in his throat and resisted the urge to bare his teeth. Ever since properly becoming a tiger animagus he had gotten a little more aggressive when dealing with people, it had been subtle at first but had grown in him. Situations like this, where no one would do anything, really pissed him off. Usually he would grind his teeth and just sit back but his new aggressiveness wouldn't let him this time.

"One week. If nothing is done in one week, I'm doing something," Harry snarled, standing up.

McGonagall looked at Harry in surprise as the teen made his way to the hospital wing door. That surprise quickly turned into annoyance.

"Excuse me Mr. Potter? You will do no such thing! I am the Headmistress here, not you!"

"One week," Harry warned as he slammed the door behind him.

* * *

Harry sat quietly near Sirius, both of them curious to see what had transpired at the ICW. They always sat next to each other at Wizengamot meetings. Most of their time was spent making fun of the other lords and ladies, but occasionally they offered their opinions. One time Sirius had suggested Lord Nott sodomize himself with his own wand. Harry was one of the few who found it funny. Apparently humor was a rarity in pureblood lords and ladies.

"We call this emergency meeting of the Wizengamot into session!" cried Justin Burns, the new Chief Warlock.

Burns was of the Campbell Clan of Scotland, the oldest clan to possess magical ancestry. He was of average height but thickly built. His long brown hair was streaked with gray and tied back at the nape of his neck. His brown eyes still glinted with a fierceness hidden by the wrinkles on his face. He was a former Slytherin, from 1909 to 1916, and had been an Auror for sixty-two years, finally retiring when Voldemort was defeated the first time.

"This session has been called to discuss the conquering of Bulgaria by You-Know-Who and the International Confederation of Wizards response to it. Representative Cassidy if you would."

Cassidy was the United Kingdom's representative to the ICW. He was a 32 year old muggle-born who had started off in 1983 as the assistant to Dumbledore when he was the Supreme Mugwump. He worked for Dumbledore for three years before becoming the Ambassador to France in 1986 after the last one retired. He held that position until Dumbledore appointed him the Representative to the ICW in June. The man had thick blond hair and rugged good looks. He reminded Harry somewhat of Gilderoy Lockhart, except a manlier version of that glory stealing pretty boy.

"Thank you Chief Warlock," Cassidy started, after clearing his throat. "The International Confederation of Wizards has decided, after two days of debate, to form a coalition to retake Bulgaria and restore its former government. They ask all countries that are willing to contribute some of their best fighters to assist."

Mutters went up throughout the Wizengamot members. Last time something like that had happened was when Grindelwald was taking over Europe. Harry could hear one particularly loud voice complaining that the ICW didn't do crap when Britain was getting destroyed but the minute another country was in need they jumped to the rescue.

The Chief Warlock banged his gavel several times to quiet the group. All of the prominent followers of Voldemort, like Lucius Malfoy and Rhydian Lestrange, were absent from the meeting. All members were to present their left forearms before entering the meeting. Those who bore the Dark Mark, which one was unable to hide, knew they would be exposed and so had not shown. That didn't mean there was no Voldemort sympathizers or even those who actively helped and supported the Dark Lord, but they weren't actively Death Eaters. So the number of Voldemort sympathizers had significantly decreased this meeting.

"Twenty-four countries, mostly from Europe but also including Australia, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Japan, have pledged to lend soldiers to this coalition."

Cassidy sat down and the Chief Warlock opened the floor for discussion.

"Why should we help out Bulgaria? Where was our aid when You-Know-Who was setting fire to Diagon Alley? Where was this coalition when whole families were being exterminated?" Lord Brody exclaimed somewhere to the left of Harry. Shouts of agreement rang throughout the chamber.

"We dealt with You-Know-Who for eleven years the first time and the Bulgarians can't even deal with him for a week?" Lord Vane asked.

Lord Anwell was the next to speak up. "We don't have the manpower! The Hogwarts Express attack has crippled the Ministries forces. We lost 38 good men and women, and thirteen more are still in St. Mungo's recovering from their wounds."

"I say send the fighters," Lady Kerr stated, the first to express approval for such an action. "If we can defeat You-Know-Who in Bulgaria, we won't have to worry about dealing with him here."

"But what about the Death Eaters still in the United Kingdom?" Lord MacNulty demanded. "Who would be left to deal with those scumbags?"

Harry observed Dumbledore, wondering if he could glean which direction the Minister fell on in the debate. Harry himself was undecided. Sure Voldemort was gone, and so were some of his best fighters in Dolohov, Rookwood and the three Lestranges. However, that still left many capable Death Eaters like Lucius Malfoy. If they sent their best fighters to Eastern Europe, who would be able to handle Malfoy?

Before anymore discussion could continue a young Ministry aide burst into the chamber. Many of the lords muttered in shock that a lowly aide would dare interrupt their meeting. Dumbledore, upon noticing the frightened look on the young man's face, stood up.

"What is so important that you interrupted an emergency session of the Wizengamot?" Burns demanded.

"It's You-Know-Who sir!" the aide gasped out. "He split his forces into three groups. One under his command, one under Dolohov's command and one under Rookwood's command. Simultaneously, the three forces of Death Eaters and Bulgarian fighters attacked Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. All three fell within hours!

"Reports are still coming in. Hundreds are dead and hundreds more are fleeing the countries! Word is he annexed them. He's crowned himself king of a new magical empire, Regnum Meracus!"

"The kingdom of the pure," Dumbledore murmured, his voice carrying over the shocked silence of the room. "Lords and ladies, I think its obvious what we must do. The United Kingdom must join this coalition. I will resign from my post as Minister and lead our forces their myself."

Shouts went up throughout the chamber. Dumbledore resigning from Minister after only four months at the job?

"As one of the best Hit-Wizards this Ministry has, I will go with him," Lord Anwell stated, standing up. Anwell had apparently changed his mind after hearing the news. Harry wondered if others would too.

"I as well," Sirius proclaimed, standing from his seat.

Harry stared at his godfather in shock. Say what now?

"Me too," Lady Aitken declared.

"As an Auror Captain I am going too." Lord Delaney stood from his seat.

Many of the Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot were not Ministry employees and those that were generally did not hold positions in Law Enforcement. The more snobbish of them viewed such jobs beneath them. The bulk of the fighting force would probably come from the half-bloods and muggle-borns that made up the bulk of the Law Enforcement Department, like Kinglsey Shacklebolt and Rufus Scrimgeour.

* * *

Harry waited a week and a day for McGonagall to do something, trying to give the Headmistress the benefit of the doubt. However, before he could actively go out and do something, Neville awoke from his coma. The teen refused to answer any questions until he talked to Harry. That's why Harry found himself being escorted to the Hospital Wing after being taken out of his Charms class by an Auror.

He entered the Hospital Wing to find McGonagall and another Auror standing next to Neville's bed. Neville had his arms crossed over his chest and his lips were pursed. Upon spotting Harry, Neville sat up a little straighter. Harry made his way over to the bed.

"If you excuse me, I'd like to speak to Harry." Neither the Headmistress or the Aurors made a move to leave. "Alone."

Both the Aurors merely shrugged their shoulders and left. McGonagall looked like she wanted to say something but settled for giving Harry a frosty look before leaving. She was still ticked Harry had threatened to do something if she didn't.

"Privacy wards," Neville instructed.

Harry took out his wand and gave it a wave. He felt the magic of the basic ward washing over him. It wasn't the most complicated one out there but it would do the job.

"It was Malfoy," Neville stated simply.

Harry's eyes narrowed and he gripped his wand tighter. "I fucking knew it."

"He's different Harry. He was talking about undergoing some kind of ritual during the summer. A ritual You-Know-Who presided over. My guess is it was to boost his power by a good amount. He's stronger then he was at the end of last year. Stronger then me and Ron at least." Ron and Neville were fairly powerful for their age. They were not at the level of Harry, but for their age, they were definitely above average. "I'm guessing the negative side effect to the ritual was his sanity. He kept giggling a lot and would randomly get really angry before he started giggling again."

"Did he attack you guys head on?" Harry asked. Even he had trouble taking Ron and Neville head on in a duel, winning as many times as he lost. If Malfoy could do it, then the ritual must have been pretty damn effective.

"No. He attacked when we were coming out of the kitchens. Ron had his hands filled with some pastries and caught a bludgeoner right in the face. I started dueling Malfoy and Ron helped when he got back to his feet but Ron definitely had a broken jaw and cheek bone. It was over in probably six or seven minutes. He said he wanted us to pass on a message to you; that he's better then you. I honestly thought he was going to kill us but I guess he just wanted to use us as scare tactics against you."

Harry nodded before frowning. "But why would he attack you straight out like that and let you see his face? He's gotta know you'll tell the Aurors and he'll get arrested."

"He wants you to go looking for him Harry," Neville explained. "He wants you to find him and duel with him so he can prove he's better then you."

"Yeah but he couldn't have known it would work. How did he know you'd tell me first? How can he be so sure I'll go after him?"

"He's insane Harry. I don't think he knows its going to work; he's just hoping it does."

Harry got up and started to walk away. Neville looked at him with confusion.

"Where are you going Harry?"

Harry looked over his shoulder and stopped, inches from the edges of the privacy wards. "If Malfoy wants me to go after him, who am I to disappoint? I'll teach that fucker who is better."

Harry passed through the privacy ward, the magic collapsing as he walked through it. The two Aurors slowly made their way to Neville, to try to get the teen to talk about what he knew. Neville stubbornly remained silent as he stared after Harry.

"What did he have to say?" McGonagall asked as Harry marched pass her.

"He wanted to tell me when he was in a coma he had a dream I was a cross dresser and that I shouldn't try being a drag queen. Something about fishnets not a good look for me."

The Headmistress opened her mouth to demand the truth from Harry but he never gave her a shot. He walked right by her without slowing down. The walk to Gryffindor Tower was made in silent contemplation. Voldemort had undergone almost three dozen rituals to increase his physical strength, magical power and resistance to injury. Without them Tom Riddle would have been a powerful wizard sure, but not beyond the level of Dumbledore like he was now. If Draco Malfoy followed the same path, Harry wasn't sure what to think.

Since it was still class time, the common room was pretty much empty. There was a few third years who had a free period but they were too intimidated by the Boy-Who-Lived to cause him any problems. His dormitory, which had been extremely empty with just him and Dean, was the same pigsty it always was. Popping open his trunk it took a little digging but he managed to find his extra wands and the Marauder's Map. He strapped the wands to their usual places, his hip and his ankle, while double checking the one on his right forearm. If Draco Malfoy wanted a fight, Harry was going to make sure he was ready to give one.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good. Now where is that too much hair gel wearing prat. Oh look, there's our little snakey and he's skipping class. Shame, shame Malfoy," Harry muttered as he strolled from his dorm.

The walk to the dungeon room Malfoy was hiding in was fairly long. It was in an unused part of the dungeons, far away from the potion's classrooms and the Slytherin dorms. Harry was positive he passed by several cells, probably used to house prisoners back when Hogwarts was a private castle, not a school. As Harry turned down the final corridor he felt a tingling of magic in front of him.

Prodding his wand out, he detected a basic perimeter ward had been erected. He cast a few detection and diagnostic spells but didn't come up with anything else. Shrugging his shoulders he walked right through the ward, wanting Malfoy to know he was coming.

"I knew Longbottom would tell you," Malfoy stated as Harry walked into the room, a superior smirk on his face. "And I knew you would come."

"You kidding me? I get to kick the shit out of you with no one interfering, why would I pass that up?" Harry asked, gripping his wand tightly in his hand.

"I'm more powerful Potter. You don't stand a chance," Malfoy sneered.

"Give it up Malfoy. You aren't better then me in anything. Well that's not true. You're a more annoying piece of shit, so you got me in that. My power and talent is all mine. Rituals weren't needed to make me what I am and who I will be."

"_Avada Kedevra!_"

Harry side stepped the curse and snapped his wand up. If Draco wanted to start off firing the big guns, Harry would too.

"_Inflatus_!"

The multiple blasting hexes were deflected by Malfoy's shield and slammed into the walls, sending rocks and dust flying through the air. Malfoy responded with two dark curses that looked like bone breakers. Harry swatted one to the side and ducked underneath the other one. As he rose back to a standing position, he flicked his wand upward

"_Geàr Mór Tonn"_

A wave of pale green magic flew from Harry's wand. Malfoy deflected most of the magic but a bit of it caught him in the left arm, cutting a gash across his forearm. Hissing in pain, Malfoy returned fire with another killing curse.

Harry dove out of the way, coming up in a roll to the right of where he just was. He came up just in time to shield a flesh-decaying curse. Another killing curse was shot his way and Harry conjured a block of marble to absorb the curse. Harry realized he really needed to improve his spell casting speed, since it seemed even Malfoy was faster then him.

"_Confringo_!"

Malfoy ducked underneath the spell and shielded himself from the silent one following behind it. Side-stepping a nasty looking blue jet of light, Malfoy caught Harry with a piercing hex in the side. A smirk of triumph made its way onto the Slytherin's face at the spurt of blood that followed the impact. However, that smirk was quickly wiped from his face when Harry merely grunted in pain before returning fire.

Malfoy stalked forward, his wand aimed right at Harry. "_Circum Linngua. Diffringo._ _Muskel Desido_. _Avada Kedavra!_" the Slytherin intoned, yelling the last spell as loud as he could.

Twisting out of the way of the first curse, Harry quickly mumbled a word in Latin and watched as a small circular shield of magic formed at the tip of his wand and blocked the second and third curses. He bent his head to the side and felt the wave of death and decay wash over him as the Killing Curse flew inches from his face, filling his ears with a roaring sound. Dispelling the defensive magic at the tip of his wand, he shot a bludgeoner that broke through Malfoy's defensive magic and caught him in his side. Malfoy did a one-eighty spin and collapsed to the ground. Before Harry could remove Malfoy's wand from him, the Slytherin pointed it at the ceiling.

"_Reducto_!"

Harry dove out of the way as the middle of the ceiling collapsed under the spell. Chunks of rock rained down upon the room, a cloud of dust filling the air. Harry quickly dispelled the dust and cursed loudly. Malfoy was gone.

He took out the Marauder's Map and examined it. Malfoy appeared to be moving through the ground and Harry realized Malfoy was using a secret passage the Marauder's hadn't found. The four Gryffindors had probably never explored this far into the dungeons, only knowing the basics of the layout. Only Slytherins would know the dungeons so well. Harry took off running, making his way to the Entrance Hall as soon as possible.

Malfoy knew Neville had woken up. He knew someone was going to go looking for him, hence the perimeter ward. If Neville told the Aurors, he would escape through the passage before the Aurors could arrest him. If Neville told Harry then Malfoy would wait for Harry to find him and then fight him, like had just happened. No matter the outcome of the battle Malfoy would have to escape. Harry should have put him down for good.

He emerged from the dungeons and glanced down at the map. Malfoy was on the grounds now, making his way toward the forest. That passage seemed to cut off half the time it would take to reach the forest as Malfoy was already halfway there. Harry wouldn't have been able to catch the teen.

"Malfoy you little shit," Harry snarled, slamming his hand into the wall next to him.

* * *

The news of the ICW coalition and Dumbledore's resignation from Minister of Magic was all the Daily Prophet talked about for a week. Top Hit-Wizards Sirius Black, Broderick Anwell, Julia Aitken, Dylan Anwell, Salvatore Kane, Sadie Judd and two of the recently hired professional duelist, Miles Lang and Trish Wells would be accompanying Dumbledore. Going along with them were also Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt, Rufus Scrimgeour, Lawrence Delaney, Gawain Robards and John Dawlish.

Fourteen of the United Kingdom's best fighters had left the country to battle in eastern Europe. Many speculated when the Death Eaters still around would strike. The Ministries numbers were still weak from the Hogwarts Express attack and the leaving of the best fighters it had, left the Ministry severely crippled.

Amos Diggory, newly elected Minister, pledged to take immediate steps to bring the Hit-Wizards and Aurors back up to speed. No one knew exactly what the man could do but there was rumors about tapping into foreign Ministries and getting several of their fighters on loan. There were reports he might approach the Rangers of Avalon for several fighters, similar to what McGonagall had done for Hogwarts.

Speaking of McGonagall, Neville had finally told her and the Aurors that it had been Draco Malfoy who attacked him and Ron. However, when they searched the castle they found that Malfoy, along with all his belongings, was gone. McGonagall suspected that Neville told Harry about Malfoy and that the Boy-Who-Lived had gone and confronted Malfoy but she couldn't prove it.

"Harry?"

Harry was interrupted from his thoughts by Cho Chang. She was leaning against the wall several feet in front of him. She wasn't wearing her robe over her uniform and her skirt appeared several inches above regulation length. He was currently on his way to Transfiguration and was running a bit late. Class started in a minute or so and it would take him at least three to get there.

"Hey Cho," Harry stated as he slowed down his pace. He had spoken to her since that morning several a fortnight ago. Well that wasn't the entire truth. They still traded a few words every morning at the training sessions but they hadn't had a conversation since their morning tryst.

"I have a free period right now and I was wondering if you'd want to head to the Room of Requirement for another...session," Cho suggested.

Harry stared at her for a moment, wondering what she meant before it clicked. "I'd like to but I'm already late for Transfiguration."

"Come on Harry. Everyone knows you're beyond NEWT level in that class. Besides, if you're already late anyway, you might as well not even go."

Cho started playing with the bottom of her skirt, exposing more of her thigh to him. Harry blinked at the exposure of the smooth skin. He felt his mouth going dry as more and more of it was shown to him. However, Cho stopped playing with her skirt and Harry had to bite down a grown of disappointment as it fell back down.

"Shouldn't you two be in class?" a voice asked.

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. He hadn't heard anyone approach, he had been too distracted. He turned to find a male Ranger of Avalon standing behind him. The man's brown dragon armor stretched across a broad chest, his dark green cloak fluttering lightly behind him.

From what Harry could tell they worked in groups of five. It was generally twenty of the Rangers patrolled at all times while twenty had the time off; twelve hours patrol, twelve hours rest. Not all groups started their twelve hour shifts at the same time, and instead it was generally every three hours one group reached the end of their shift and another one of the groups started theirs. This way there would always be fresh Rangers on duty. One group always patrolled the castle, generally the group nearing the end of their shift. The other three groups patrolled the grounds, paying particular attention to the edge of the forest.

"I have a free period," Cho answered.

"I'm uh, feeling really warm. I think I might have to visit Madam Pomfrey," Harry muttered, the sight of Cho's skirt riding up flashing in his mind.

"I'll take him!"

Cho grabbed Harry's arm and started dragging him off. Harry could feel the Ranger's eyes watching them the entire way. For an instant, Harry wondered how he would fair in a fight against one of the Rangers of Avalon. The thought didn't last long though as Cho gave his bum a firm squeeze, reminding him that he wasn't going to the hospital wing.

* * *

Diggory hated making floo calls as it was a very uncomfortable feeling having your head sticking out one fireplace while your body as sticking out the other. However, he needed to make an important call and didn't feel right leaving his nation so soon after taking the position as Minister. It was bad enough his Law Enforcement was already severely short on leadership right now. He had lost the Head of the Aurors and four Auror Captains, including the two most likely to replace the Head of the Aurors. The Hit Wizards had lost five of their team leaders and one of their Captains. It was bad enough he was losing such skilled fighters, did it have to be ones in position of leadership?

"You are aware that though our countries may be the staunchest of allies in the muggle world, that is not true in the magical world. The bigotry that has run rampant throughout your government is frowned upon by this nation."

Diggory nodded his head. The president of the Magical Republic of the United States was a tall and lanky man who carried himself with a sense of power, grace and nobility that came from years of being a pureblood lord. Yet, the man was a muggle-born of only sixty years of age. His black hair was flecked with gray but few wrinkles sat upon his face. He wore a muggle suit underneath an open robe, a reminder that the magical society of the United States was much more accepting of its muggle counterparts. Francis John Adams may have been the first wizard in his family but he wasn't the first to be president of the United States, as two of his ancestors were John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

"I am aware of the faults of my government. As you may not be aware, under the brief term of Albus Dumbledore many of the laws passed that restricted werewolves, veelas, goblins and centaurs have been revoked. A werewolf even holds a high position in the Ministry. We are attempting to right the wrongs of previous generations."

"Then you are also aware that the United States has already lent the coalition fifty of its Battle Mages, a third of its numbers."

Diggory knew the Battle Mages were one of the better fighting forces in the magical world. They were right up there with the Rangers of Avalon but weren't restricted to the use of primarily light arts, which made them more dangerous.

"I am aware of this fact. I am also aware of the fact that the Magical Republic of the United States has the largest law enforcement agency in the magical world, and that twenty percent of your budget is dedicated to your defense and security department, the largest percentage in the world. Now are you aware of the fact that over seventy Death Eaters still roam the United Kingdom, and many more have probably joined the cause? Are you also aware that after a series of attacks a month ago added with the fighters who left to join the coalition, that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the United Kingdom Ministry of Magic is currently operating at half its usual man-power, and is actually only at thirty-three percent full war capacity?"

President Adams stopped himself from sighing. His country had been keeping an eye on the situation in the Unite Kingdom. There had been an increase in muggle-born immigrants from Britain in the 1970's, which led to his predecessors finding out exactly what was going on across the pond during that time span. Now that this You-Know-Who was back, he had made sure to have agents positioned in the United Kingdom to keep him up to date. His biggest fear was the spreading of Voldemort and his pureblood followers and ideals. That was happening as Eastern Europe was beginning to fall, one by one. He didn't want such a thing spreading to his country.

"I can give you four teams of Sentinels. Sentinels consist of teams of five. While they'll answer to your chain of command I prefer you keep them in their own units rather then split them up. They should be similar enough to your Hit-Wizards where they can fulfill the same duties."

"I appreciate the aid," Diggory stated. The twenty men would go a long way to assisting the United Kingdom in battling its Death Eaters. However, Diggory's mind was on something else. Battle Mages were an elite fighting force under the control of the Magical Republic of the United States. What if the United Kingdom had a similar unit? An elite fighting force that could handle even the Inner Circle of Death Eaters?

"Is there anything else you wish to discuss Minister Diggory?"

"No there is not. You have the United Kingdom's thanks President Adams. Although our governments have been far apart in their ideas, I hope to bridge the gap that separates us and maybe we can became as close of allies as our muggle counterparts."

"Time will tell," Adams answered neutrally.

Diggory nodded his head before withdrawing it from the fire. With his entire body back in his office at the Ministry he began to plot. An elite force under control of the Ministry. But who would he get? Their best fighters had already left the country. Sure they had some recent additions who could step up but it would take months of training to make these teenagers and young adults a capable fighting force.

"That's it!" Diggory muttered. He pressed the intercom on his desk. "Cindy, can you please get Amelia down here? I have some important business to discuss with her. Also send a letter to Lancelot Russo. Let him know I wish to speak with him."


	9. The Golden Knights and The Areani

I know I promised the Areani would be introduced next chapter but I lied. They will be introduced this chapter since I realized I don't have enough going on in this chapter to get it over 5,000 words without it. Also do they have the fist bump (sometimes referred to as a pound or knuckle bump) in the United Kingdom? I just wonder because its mentioned in this chapter.

Mordecai the Barman – You are absolutely right. Don't worry though it is easily fixable. I mean for years the United States was known as the land of the free and equal opportunity and all that good stuff but you still had your slavery, your Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan, and that is just against the African-American community. Can't forget about Japanese internment during WWII, the Mexican Repatriation during the Great Depression, the forcing of Native American's onto reservations and then pressuring them to adapt the "white" way of living, plus the lynching of several different races and of course several race riots, amongst dozens of other incidents. I'll just make it like reality, where even though the U.S. boast of being tolerant, for some people its actually quite the opposite.

Chapter 9 The Golden Knights and The Areani

Moody sat back with a sigh and rubbed his hand over his face. That Krum kid was finally getting a hand on the concept of stealth. When he had first started teaching the kid it was like trying to teach a dragon how to tap dance. The others all showed the ability to stealthily move throughout an area without being detected right off the bat, yet it seemed a lost cause on the Bulgarian. Though he guess he should cut the kid some slack after what happened to his home country. Luckily the Krums were old purebloods so his family should be fine if they kept their heads down.

It had been easy to convince the six young adults to agree to his idea. They were all extremely smart and quick learners so the training had been running relatively smoothly. The problem had been when he introduced the idea to the rest of the Order. Sure many had agreed with the idea but people like Molly Weasley were strictly against it, especially since her son was part of the group. It was too dangerous and too violent, they argued. Moody had prepared for that though. He brought pictures from the last war, showing the mutilated remains they found of victims of the Death Eaters. The disfigured remains of Gideon and Fabian Prewett shut Molly Weasley nee Prewett up pretty quick. It was an underhand tactic, but a necessary one. People had to realize this was a war not a game. Rules and morals didn't apply here like they did in times of peace.

Cloak and Dagger teams is what he called them; although the better term would probably be assassination teams. A Curse Breaker to bring down the wards and to act as back-up and an experienced fighter to take down the target. He taught the fighters how to enter and then move throughout a house without being detected. Flitwick, who use to be an experienced Curse Breaker as well as a duelist, taught the Curse Breakers how to circumvent the kind of wards they'd most likely see on Death Eater houses, as well as how to open up a hole small enough for someone to slip through without disturbing the wards themselves. The cloak would be the curse breaker, who got the fighter into the target's house without notice. The dagger would be the fighter, the one who delivered the killing blow.

Together they also helped train the young adults on fighting, since one was a former Auror and the other a former dueling champion. Many times training had to take place at night, when Flitwick didn't have classes to teach and could get away from Hogwarts. Three dagger teams; Bill Weasley and Andre Peeters, Michael Patterson and Idalia Ortego, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum. It would take a few more weeks before he would believe in them enough to send them on a mission. Still it was doing something, rather then sitting back and waiting.

October had just started. He would wait until after Halloween to send them on their first missions; lesser Death Eaters first. The lesser Death Eaters would put up less of a fight and were probably not rich and therefor didn't have as extensive wards. Crabbe and Yaxley were probably two prime targets to try the dagger teams out on first. Perhaps Avery Jr. would be a good one as well.

He wondered when it came down to it, which of the three Daggers would be able to handle dealing the killing blow and which wouldn't. The three daggers had all said they'd be able to handled it but there was a big difference between saying you could kill someone and actually doing the act. Killing someone was a hard thing to do and it could change a person in ways one might not want. In fact, if any of the young adults weren't affected by their first kills, he would think something wrong with them. Killing was never a good thing but sometimes it was a necessary thing. He had learned that the hard way during Grindelwald's rise to power and had the idea reinforced during Voldemort's first rise.

* * *

Harry didn't know whether to accept it for what it was, end it or try to make it something more. He doubted Cho wanted to make it something more. It seemed to be just physical to her and he was alright with that because he didn't like her in that kind of way. He didn't want to end it because, to be honest, he thoroughly enjoyed it. Still, wasn't it frowned upon to be in this kind of relationship? One where it was just sex?

The more Harry thought about it though, the more he just didn't care. He didn't care what others may think about him. He had done that the first few years he lived with the Dursleys and had been disappointed. He had cared what others thought when he first entered the wizarding world and had been disappointed. He was just going to do what felt right to him and damn what everyone else thought.

He looked at the spot Cho had occupied a few minutes earlier. Lunch was nearing an end and she wanted to go back to her dorm to shower and get ready for the afternoon classes. Harry was going to do the same thing but the Gryffindor dorms were a lot closer then the Ravenclaw ones. He had both of his new classes this afternoon; Magical Law and Fencing.

Magical Law taught one the inner workings of the British Ministry of Magic, as well as educating them on the various laws, amendments, acts and statutes that existed in the Magical United Kingdom. In the second year of the class they learned about international laws put into effect by the ICW or agreed upon by signed treaties between nations. The sixth year class was taught twice a week by a Ministry instructor from the Wizengamot Administration Services. The seventh year class was taught twice a week by a Ministry instructor from the International Magical Office of Law.

Fencing taught one how to properly handle various swords. The sixth year class focused on the actual swords used in standard fencing; the epee, foil and saber. The seventh year class taught one the use of katanas, claymores, cutlasses, scimitars and daggers. The class was taught by Joffrey Wynne, a Welsh pureblood who lived in Hogsmeade.

Magical Law was extremely boring but a necessity for any who wanted to work in the Ministry and was recommended to pureblood heirs. Luckily for Harry basically everyone he was friends with in his year was in the class. Sixth and seventh year combined all of the students from the year into one room. Which meant every class contained all four houses. Magical Law was the most populated class for sixth and seventh years. Unfortunately, unlike History of Magic, the professor was very much alive and also very much aware of what goes on in his classroom, despite the similar droning nature of Binns.

Fencing was also populated by most of his friends, as they viewed it as something they should know for the upcoming war. Although Harry had handled a sword before, he was pretty sure just flailing it around wildly didn't actually count as fencing. Still, he seemed to pick the sport up pretty quickly. While he wasn't the best in the class, since there were several purebloods who had been fencing since they were young, he was still pretty good.

Stretching his arms over his head, Harry got up out of the bed and quickly put his clothes on. He exited the Room of Requirement and made the relatively quick walk back to the Gryffindor common room. Upon entering he noticed that everyone in the room was talking quickly with each other, some of them looking a little sick.

Harry walked over to where Ron, Neville, Hermione, Ginny and Dean all sat. None of them noticed his approach, to involved in their conversation.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"You didn't hear? Where have you been mate?" Ron asked.

"Were you hooking up with Cho again?" Hermione asked, her eyes narrowed at him. "Sex is wrong without any meaning behind it."

Harry gave her a guilty look. It was still a little weird between the two of them. Both of them still got occasional flashes of jealously when seeing the other flirting with someone else. Even though they both realized they were more brother and sister then anything, it didn't mean old feelings from their relationship didn't come about every now and a then.

"Yeah Harry, how could you do such a thing?" Dean asked with a stern look, to Hermione's approval. Discreetly Dean extended his closed hand to Harry behind Hermione's back. Harry pretended to stretch and quickly gave Dean a fist bump. He let a small grin work its way onto his face as Dean fought to keep the stern look on his.

"So what's up?"

"The ICW coalition clashed with You-Know-Who's forces in Albania," Ginny explained, a hint of disapproval in her voice. She apparently didn't approve of Harry's fling with Cho either.

"Voldemort's forces are bigger then anyone anticipated. Those who didn't flee the countries he conquered are accepting him as their leader. He has all those nations law enforcement departments under his control, plus all these bigoted purebloods and half-bloods who are flocking to him from all over Europe."

Harry looked at Ron in surprise. Bigger then anticipated? They already thought he commanded over four hundred witches and wizards, plus some giants. The newspapers said the ICW coalition numbered around six hundred fighters, was that enough?

"How much bigger?" Harry asked, almost fearing the answer.

"Close to nine hundred," Dean answered solemnly. "The coalition lost man, even with the help of Albania's law enforcement. Albania is now a part of You-Know-Who's empire."

Harry paled. "How many did we lose?"

"The coalition only suffered about a hundred dead but have a lot more wounded. Apparently once he realized they were losing, the leader of the coalition ordered a retreat. Albania lost almost three hundred or so people. No one knows You-Know-Who's casualties," Hermione explained.

Harry wondered if Sirius was one of those casualties. Merlin he hoped not. He had only known his godfather for two and a half years. To have him ripped away so soon would be too cruel of fate.

Dean held up a newspaper and pointed to a headline. "The leader of the coalition is asking for more men. He's saying the problem is way worse then anyone thought and You-Know-Who's army is just going to get bigger with every success they have."

"We can't afford to send anymore men but France, Spain, Germany and Italy are sending over more. I heard the Magical Arabian Territories are sending a hundred or so fighters too and Turkey is chipping in as well," Neville stated.

Harry nodded his head. After he had promised himself he would read up on magical history and the like so as not to be confused every time someone mentioned something obscure he had actually done just that. The Magical Arabian Territories compromised most of the Middle East. It wasn't broken up like it was in the muggle world, since most of the current nations were created by the powers of Europe after World War I with no concern to what the Arabs wanted. Turkey, Iran and Egypt were the only countries that some muggles considered the Middle East that didn't make up the MAT.

"Greece and the Ukraine are mobilizing for war. They know that they'll probably be next," Ginny added.

"Everyone should be mobilizing for war," Harry muttered, "because everyone is next."

* * *

Diggory looked over the list of names compiled in front of him. After a long talk with Amelia Bones, the recruiting of a couple dozen instructors and trainers, and the furnishing of a training facility, he was ready to start recruiting trainees. He had talked to almost a hundred people to compile a list of some of the strongest and brightest youths in the United Kingdom. He had decided he wouldn't go after anyone who wasn't of age yet, because he didn't want to get parents involved. Except for one individual but he didn't have to worry about that person's parents.

Some of them were still at Hogwarts but he was sure he could convince them to take their NEWTs early and join the cause. He needed the best. In fact he already had his choices for the next group of elite fighters but that would have to wait ten months or so, until the last of them came of age. For now he would settle on his twenty-seven individuals.

He had searched throughout the United Kingdom for the best at what he wanted the fighters to learn. Some, like Filius Flitwick, refused to leave their current post to join his project. Others, like the extremely skilled Ward Constructor Marcus Jugson, were suspected Death Eaters and/or Voldemort sympathizers. Still he had assembled a great team to teach the trainees, now he just needed to get those trainees to agree and join his project.

It was especially important because Dolohov and Rookwood had been spotted in the United Kingdom again. Rumor was that Voldemort had seen who the United Kingdom had sent to join the coalition and realized how weak the Ministry of Magic was. He wanted his Death Eaters still in the UK to attack while the Ministry's forces were weak.

The American Sentinels had arrived the other day. They had joined the Hit-Wizards, ten at Alpha Base and ten at Bravo Base. President Adams had assured him they were some of his best, right before the President was called away to deal with two dead muggle-borns being found with the word 'mudblood' carved into their foreheads and the uproar it was causing. Diggory doubted the Death Eaters had spread into the United States yet, probably just bigoted American purebloods.

Diggory pressed a button on his intercom. "Cindy, please send memos to the following; Hit-Wizards Jeff Summerby, Broderick Anwell Jr., Naomi Tavern, Dennis Saunders, Samantha Brodie and Jacob Edwards, as well as Auror Nymphadora Tonks, Aurors in training Patricia Stimpson, Tyson Benjamin, Abigail Jackson and Phil Conway, and Werewolf Capture Unit member Jesse Gunn-Taylor. Have the memo state I wish them to be in Conference Room #2 in two hours time."

"Of course Minister," Cindy responded.

Diggory let go of the button and leaned back in his chair. He was taking vital young talent away from the Hit-Wizards and Aurors but it was necessary. It was time for the United Kingdom to have its elite fighting force. It was time to create his Golden Knights.

"Thank you for meeting with me Mr. Potter," Amos Diggory said, smiling at Harry.

The teen sat down in the seat across from the Minister, his face curious. He hadn't spoken to Amos Diggory since Cedric had died at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. "No problem Minister." There was a beat of silence. "You said you wanted to meet with me to discuss helping out the Ministry?"

"Straight to the point I see. Very well. Yes, I invited you here to help out the Ministry and to help out in this war. When Dumbledore left to go battle Voldemort in Eastern Europe he took most of the United Kingdom's best fighters with him. That has not only left us short-handed here but also without much skill and talent in our fighters. Rowle and Malfoy, amongst dozens of other skilled Death Eaters are still in the United Kingdom. Dolohov and Rookwood have returned and without the likes of Kingsley, Scrimgeour, Anwell, Black and all the others, we don't have many that can stand up to them in a fight. We know this and, unfortunately, they know this as well."

Harry leaned back in his seat as he listened to the Minister speak. He had an idea where this was going. "Very true Minister but I don't see how a mere sixth year can do anything about that."

"Please Mr. Potter, a mere sixth year you are not. Let's not play games for neither of us has time for them. I need talent and I need it now. I have already approached five seventh years who have agreed to take their NEWTs now and join the Ministry. Along with several of Hogwarts recent graduates they will spend the next few months being trained to be Knights, some of the best fighters we will have."

"Do you mind me asking which seventh years?"

"Eddie Carmichael, Geoffrey Hooper, Lucas Cadwallader, Katie Bell and Kyle Summers." Amos ticked them off on his hand as he listed off each person.

Harry had trained Eddie, Katie and Kyle. He knew what they were capable of and agreed each would make great fighters for the Ministry. Geoffrey was a fellow Gryffindor and the nephew of Lord Anwell, a pureblood lord whose family pledged their support to Harry. Lucas was a Hufflepuff who was a great duelist and excelled at Transfiguration. He also used to be a good friend of Cedric Diggory. He wondered if Mr. Diggory knew that fact.

"So you want me to be a Knight as well," Harry mused.

"No. Not a Knight. Something more. Something better. The Knights will be soldiers. What I want you to do, well lets just say you won't technically work for the Ministry. For what I have in mind, most of your work will be in the shadows and probably abroad. You will be one of three; one of a great and dangerous three."

"Abroad?"

Diggory didn't answer right away, instead taking out a folder and examining it closely. He peered at Harry over the information. "Voldemort is trying to recruit followers and build alliances throughout Europe. We can't allow this to happen but don't want to soil relations with other countries. You will make sure he doesn't do that, all the while keeping the United Kingdom's name free of any wrong doing."

Voldemort was only as strong as those who followed him. The more allies the Dark Lord had, the harder it would be to kill him in the end. Still, how did this solve the problems domestically? If the Ministry needed fighters to combat the Death Eaters in the United Kingdom, why would they send Harry abroad?

"I'm a little confused. If the problems here, why send me somewhere else?"

"The Knights will handle the problems here. You're to make sure the problems out there don't come in here."

Okay, well that made sense.

"How long will the training take?"

"The training will take nine months. You'll be done with it in three through the use of a time turner."

Eyebrows were raised in surprise before green eyes narrowed in thought. Staying at Hogwarts was good and all but he needed to be out there helping in the war effort. Not to mention, most of what he had left to learn under the Hogwarts curriculum in Defense, Charms and Transfiguration he had already taught to himself. Nine months would seem like a long time doing nothing but it would probably be worth it.

"My training will entail?"

"Stealth, tracking, dueling, magical combat, hand-to-hand combat, fencing, information gathering, healing, potions, curse breaking, ancient runes, ward constructing. You will also be required to learn three or four other languages."

"You expect me to learn all that in nine months?"

"Well, I doubt we can teach you anything else in dueling. My file on you says you already know enough to get your OWL in Ancient Runes, even though you never took the class. Your potions skills are decent but we want to make them great. The file also says you show competence in the fighting styles known as boxing and tai chi and you just started fencing. Not to mention Albus Dumbledore, Alastor Moody and Sirius Black have mentioned the private lessons they have already given you. The other two will be going through fifteen months of training in five months. We figured since you already know and are competent at so much of what we wish to teach you, you'd require less time. Fifteen hours a day being taught by the best we can find should be enough to get you up to scrap."

"How the hell do you have so much information on me?"

"I'm the Minister of Magic Mr. Potter. If I want to properly defend this country from Death Eaters I must know everything I can about everything and everyone."

The Boy-Who-Lived slowly nodded his head, accepting the explanation even if he still had a problem with people knowing so much about him without him being aware of it. "What will I be? What's my official title?"

Diggory smiled, realizing he had successfully recruited Harry Potter, even if the teen hadn't admitted it yet. "Well technically you don't have a title. However, when the Romans use to have control over Britain they hired local agents who worked as spies and scouts for the legions. These agents helped with the Great Conspiracy in which various tribes rallied together and attacked the Roman occupants near the end of Roman occupancy. Because of their involvement they were disbanded. They were known as Areani and have only been mentioned once in historical writing.

"That's what I want. I want you barely mentioned. I want their to be no recording of you. You will be a scout and a spy and so much more, and you will do it under the shroud of secrecy. The best thing about those Areani was since they were British natives, they blended right in with all the tribes and no one suspected they worked for the Romans. I want you to blend right in. I don't want anyone suspecting your working for me and that you're a dangerous person to know."

"But I'm Harry Potter. I'm pretty noticeable."

"Disguises will also be a part of your training. And not magical disguises like glamors and polyjuice. Glamors and similar types of spells can be negated by wards and counter charms. Polyjuice needs you to take a drink every hour and sometimes you can't do that. We'll do things the muggle way."

Harry thought it all over. He was going to accept, there was no way he couldn't. He had learned everything Hogwarts had to offer him in three of the subjects already, bordering on four if you wanted to include Care of Magical Creatures. It was time he moved on and started to learn more of the things necessary to survive in a war. It was time he stepped up and became the soldier he would have to become if he wanted to have any hope of killing Voldemort.

"Alright then, I accept."

Diggory smiled and closed the folder he had in front of him. He leaned across the table and offered his hand to the teen, who slowly took it and shook it. "I will arrange for you to take your NEWTs in a few days with the five seventh years. You should start packing your things and saying goodbye. You won't see any of your friends for several months. And Mr. Potter the Areani are suppose to be classified so be careful what you tell people."

* * *

"So you're taking your NEWTs and leaving?" Ginny asked.

Harry scratched the back of his head. He had already told Ron, Neville and Hermione that the Ministry had recruited him for something. He decided to tell everyone else that the Ministry had offered him training. He had also decided to tell everyone else at the same time and had decided to break the news after a morning training session. Katie, Eddie and Kyle had broken the news of their departure too. "Yeah. The Ministry is going to train me for a few months, to help me better prepare to fight in the war."

He had been excused from his classes the last few days so he could study for the NEWTs. He had done brief reviews in Charms, Transfiguration, DADA and CoMC, and had spent most of his time studying Ancient Runes. He had spoken to Diggory and the Minister was allowing Harry to take the Ancient Runes OWL and then the Ancient Runes NEWT. His test started today with the Ancient Rune OWL, the Charms NEWT and the CoMC NEWT. Then tomorrow he would finish up with the DADA NEWT, the Transfiguration NEWT and the Ancient Runes NEWT.

"Who is going to lead the training now?" Terry asked. "You four are our best duelist."

"That is up to you guys. You can either elect a new leader or lead by committee. Tomorrow will be our last day at Hogwarts."

The teens started to filter out of the room, muttering to themselves. Harry gave a small sigh as he watched everyone leave.

Eddie approached Harry and nudged him with his shoulder. "Still training together, just a lot more intense eh Harry?"

"Looks like it," Harry replied. "Should be nice knowing some of the people."

"Doubt any of its going to be fun," Katie supplied as she joined their conversation.

"Just imagine the two hours we spend here every morning expanded over the course of an entire day," Kyle explained. "Sounds like a grand old time to me."

Katie snorted. "You're idea of fun sucks Kyle."

Kyle merely shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, I got to shower and eat. Got my Herbology NEWT in forty minutes."

"Got my Herbology NEWT as well," Katie added.

"Me too," Eddie murmured. "We'll see you around Harry."

The three seventh years left in a group. Harry saw that Ginny and Cho were still standing in the room. Ginny looked like she wanted to talk to him but changed her mind as Cho approached. With a glare, Ginny stormed out of the room, leaving him and Cho the only two left.

"You're really leaving huh?" Cho asked.

"Yeah. I don't even know when I'm going to see everyone again."

Cho nodded her head. She stepped closer to Harry and began lifting up his shirt. Harry put his hands on top of Cho's and stopped her.

"I'd love to Cho but I can't. I have to shower and eat quickly. My first test is at eight-thirty."

Cho looked dejected. "So is that it?"

Harry tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'll tell you what, tonight at ten meet me here. One last time."

"Okay. Tonight at ten."

Harry smiled at Cho and she returned it before turning and leaving the room. Harry took one last look around before making his way to Gryffindor tower. He entered to find only Ginny occupying the common room, everyone else probably upstairs and showering. She was seated on a sofa in front of the fire, staring into the dancing flames. As Harry began to make his way across the room to the stairs, she turned and looked at him.

"Not hooking up with Cho right now?" she asked in a guarded voice.

Harry blinked at her and stopped his pace. "No. I have things to do."

Ginny stared at him for several seconds in silence. Harry didn't know whether he should make his way up to his dorm or wait for Ginny to say something.

"Is she upset you're leaving?"

"I don't think so. We both knew it wasn't going to last. It isn't like we were boyfriend and girlfriend or anything. There is nothing emotional between us, just physical," Harry explained.

"So what now?" Ginny questioned, as she stood from the sofa and made her way toward him.

"I take my test and then I leave," Harry answered with a shrug.

Ginny was inches from Harry. Since she hadn't showered yet he could smell her body odor, but it wasn't like he smelled great either. She was looking into his eyes as if searching for something. Harry wasn't sure what though.

"When will we see you again?"

"I don't know. Hopefully Christmas."

Harry sensed the conversation was at an end and began to turn to go shower. However, Ginny's hands framed his face and pulled him down for a kiss. The kiss was brief and full of passion, at least from Ginny. Harry was too shocked to do anything for the few seconds the kiss lasted. When she pulled away all Harry could do was gape at her for a moment.

"Ginny, I..." Ginny put a finger to Harry's lip. She smiled sadly at him before turning and walking up the stairs that led to the girl's dorms. Harry ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. "Bloody hell."

* * *

Harry stared at the castle in the distance. This wasn't how he envisioned his graduation from the school. There was no ceremony. There was no celebration. There just a long walk from the front doors to the castle gates, made in silent contemplation. He didn't make the walk alone. He was accompanied by Eddie, Katie, Kyle, Geoffrey Hooper and Lucas Cadwallader. However, none of them spoke on the walk and as one they all turned to stare at the castle. This probably wasn't how any of the others saw themselves graduating Hogwarts either. Still, they had graduated. Their NEWTs were taken, their classes over with.

Just beyond the gate several Hit-Wizards waited to escort them to their new home. A training facility in Northern Ireland where they would spend several months being trained to be the best they could be. He just hoped it was all worth it.


	10. Earlier Then Expected

A lot of the characters in my story have been mentioned in passing during canon. Most of the time it was a last name and a house. I just gave the person a first name and a personality. Kyle Summers is a character whose only information given was the name Summers and the house; Hufflepuff. Same thing with (Jeff) Summerby, also a Hufflepuff and (Alex) Chambers, a Ravenclaw. There are probably another dozen or two in the story that are the same way.

Chapter 10 Earlier Then Expected

"Lancelot, nice of you to meet with me."

"Amos, please call me Lance. You know how much I hate my parents naming me Lancelot."

Diggory smiled at the man across from him. Lancelot Russo was the best Hit-Wizard the United Kingdom Ministry of Magic had in the pass century. He was in the task force Dumbledore took with him when he went after Grindelwald. He had fought with Voldemort and survived, captured Rabastan Lestrange after the Longbottom incident, and had personally trained Sirius Black. He had close to three hundred arrests and eliminations under his belt. He was also retired, having called it quits in 1984. He was now seventy-nine years old., missing three of his ten fingers and walking with a heavy limp. While Amos was sure the man could still put up a fight, that isn't why he wanted him.

"I'm hoping you gave some serious thought to the offer I gave you."

Lance leaned back in his seat, staring at the man across from him. "I did and I accept. However, I'd like to ask that Alastor help me train them as well, if he's willing. He can teach them the other side of the business with the whole stealth and tracking shit."

"Mad-Eye?" Diggory questioned. Lance nodded his head. "Doubt he'd be willing to help. He's running a civilian militia. Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix."

Lancelot looked at him in surprise. "I thought they were vigilantes?"

"Dumbledore made them official when he became Minister," Amos answered with a shrug. "Now, I have the list of Knight trainees if you'd like to take a look."

Lance nodded his head and Amos slid a piece of parchment across the table. Lance quickly scanned the list, a frown making its way onto his face.

"When I just agreed to come out of retirement to help you train an elite group I didn't think you'd have me training children.

"Johnny Banks, age 19. Katie Bell age 17. Tyson Benjamin, age 18. Samantha Brodie, age 18. Lucas Cadwallader, age 17. Eddie Carmichael, age 17. Phil Conway, age 19. Jamie Delaney, age 20. Jacob Edwards, age 20. Geoffrey Hooper, age 17. Abigail Jackson, age 19. Lawrence Nicks, age 19. Timothy Ruth, age 18. Dennis Saunders, age 18. Patricia Stimpson, age 18. Kyle Summers, age 17. Naomi Tavern, age 20. Jeff Summerby, age 18.

"They're all so young Amos. Five of them should still be seventh years in Hogwarts."

Amos nodded his head in recognition. "Five of them, as you said, should still be in Hogwarts. Five of them were Hit Wizards. Four of them were to be Aurors. One was joining the dueling circuit. One was going for a masters in Charms and Transfiguration. One was training to be a curse breaker and the last was going for a masters in Charms and Ancient Runes.

"They are young but we'll need them. Dumbledore left us with few really capable fighters. Rookwood, Jugson, Dolohov and Mulciber are still here. Rowle and Malfoy are still here. Do you know how many Hit Wizards and Aurors we have that can actually go up head-to-head with one of them and survive? A dozen, at the most. Our Hit Wizards may be capable but these Death Eater Inner Circle members are more then capable."

"I'll give you that." Lance sighed. "You said there would be twenty-seven to be trained. You gave me eighteen kids. Who are the other nine?"

Diggory took out a group of folders and slid it across the table. "The team leaders. Still fairly young but people who have experience. First folder is Nymphadora Tonks, age 22. Daughter of former Ravenclaw Andromeda Tonks nee Black, cousin of Sirius Black and sister of Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black and Narcissa Malfoy nee Black. Andromeda was disowned for marrying Ted Tonks, muggle-born and former Hufflepuff, so you don't have to worry about her loyalties. Nymphadora was a Hufflepuff, graduated in 1991 eleventh in her class. Joined Auror training soon after. Was inducted as an Auror in 1994, first in a few years, and apprenticed under Kingsley Shacklebolt. She's a metamorphmagus and an excellent duelist but a little clumsy.

"The second folder is Broderick Anwell Jr, age 24. His father is Lord Broderick Anwell, former Gryffindor, current Wizengamot Lord and a Hit-Wizard Dumbledore took with him to Eastern Europe. His mother is Alicia Anwell nee Cornfoot, former Slytherin. Broderick was a Ravenclaw, graduated in 1989 third in his class. Signed up to be a Hit-Wizard the following year in 1990, completing his training six months later. Assigned to his Uncle Dylan Anwell's team for his first two years as a probational officer before achieving status as a full agent in 1993. He's one of the best duelist we have left and was in promotion to be given his own Hit Wizard team but I think a Knights team would be better for him. He's a team player."

The retired Hit-Wizard looked at the picture closely. "Anwell Jr. huh? I trained his father and both his uncles. Looks more like his mother."

Amos cleared his throat. "Folder three is Aaron Gallagher, age 25. Muggle-born, both parents died two years ago. Aaron was a Gryffindor and Head Boy, graduated 1988 top of his class. Got a masters in Charms in 1989 before joining the dueling circuit the same year. Did both singles dueling and team dueling in a team of five; he was the team leader. Won the European Dueling Competition: Adults- Singles in 1991 and 1994. His team placed second in 1994. He's got the leadership and dueling skills down but he's a bit of a hothead.

"Folder four is Zachary Rivers, age 24. His father is a muggle and his mother is Rita Rivers nee Vane, a former Ravenclaw. Graduated seventh in his class, in 1989. He was a Slytherin, Head Boy and Quidditch Captain. He played Chaser for five years. Tried out for the Tornadoes after graduation but failed to make the team. Became an Obliviator after that, but quit in early '92. Joined Protego Security, a private security company, as a hired gun. Became one of their best guns for hire. Was working for Lord Gwyther during the assassination attempt in 1993. Great duelist, relies heavily on Transfiguration in fights and really charismatic.

"Fifth folder is Jesse Gunn-Taylor, age 23. Muggle-born, his dad owns a jujitsu dojo, jujitsu is a form of hand-to-hand combat. Graduated fifteenth in his class in 1990, Gryffindor. Joined the Werewolf Capture Unit..."

"A WCU boy huh? Takes balls to be on the WCU."

"Joined the WCU in 1991. Assisted in the capture of forty-six werewolves, including nine on the nights of the full moon. Was arrested once for getting in a drunken brawl at the Hog's Head pub. His dueling skills can use some brushing up but he's a brave son of a bitch. Well versed in several hand-to-hand fighting styles.

"The last folder is of Lucy Corvus, age 24. Her father is former Ravenclaw, Lord Charles Corvus, heir to the Ravenclaw line. Her mother is Cynthia Corvus nee Doyle, a former Ravenclaw. Lucy was also a Ravenclaw, and Head Girl, graduating in 1989, top of her class. Got her masters in Ancient Runes before signing up to be a Curse Breaker for Gringotts. Was an amateur duelist on the side when ever she wasn't breaking into tombs. Won the United Kingdom's Amateur Dueling Tournament four years in a row from 1990 to 1994. She's a bit stiff but she's knowledgeable."

Lance looked over the six folders for a few more minutes. Amos observed him in the silence. Finally Lance looked up, a questioning look on his face.

"I'm still only counting twenty-four. You're missing three."

"The other three aren't going to be Knights. They are going to be something more." Diggory slid three more folders across the table. "The first one is Lord Harry Potter."

Russo sputtered in shock. "You got the Boy-Who-Lived?"

Minister of Magic Amos Diggory smiled at the man's surprise. Yes, he had gotten Potter and he was damn proud of it too. The cream of the crop when it came to the United Kingdom's youth and talent, hell the world's youth and talent. The rising power that would be taking Dumbledore's place as the Champion of the Light.

"Lord Harry Potter, age 16. Father was Lord James Potter, former Gryffindor, Head Boy and Auror; Moody's apprentice to be more specific. Mother was Lily Potter nee Evans, former Gryffindor, Head Girl and Spell Crafter for the Department of Mysteries. You know their story, hell our entire world probably knows the story. Harry is a Gryffindor, took his NEWTs early, got O+ in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration, an O- in Charms, an EE in Care of Magical Creatures and an A+ in Ancient Runes. Second place in the 1995 European Dueling Competition: Juniors Division. He's an amazing duelist and brave. Eager to learn too. You'll love training him. The kid pushes himself pass his limits and picks things up easily."

Lancelot whistled appreciatively. "What ever you got the Boy-Who-Lived doing has to be pretty good. Who are the other two?"

* * *

The six former Hogwarts students appeared in a flash in the middle of a path surrounded by a forest. Their Hit-Wizard escorts seemed to know where they were going as they took off down the path, using their wands to light the way. Looking at each other with shrugs, Harry and the rest followed close behind, lighting their wands as well.

They walked for almost ten minutes before the trees around them gave way to a large meadow. Sitting in the middle of the meadow was a rather plain looking square white building. Standing in front of the doorway, waiting for them, was a heavily scarred looking man who looked to be in his fifties. He had a tough, no nonsense air about him and Harry figured this would be the leader of the training.

"My name is Lance Russo, former Hit-Wizard and your head instructor. I am not your friend. I am not going to go easy on you. I will make you sweat and bleed and cry. You will hate me. But your hatred will have to wait until tomorrow. It is now 9:16 and you are the last group to arrive. Every night you will eat dinner at 8:30. At 9 o'clock you will be done with the day and allowed to do what you want for two hours. Eleven o'clock is lights out. Six o'clock is your wake up call. You'll have ten minutes to get ready and then you'll have twenty minutes to eat breakfast. Once your breakfast is over with the training starts. Any questions?"

No one raised their hands or said anything. They were too busy staring at the man in front of them wondering what they signed up for.

"No? Good. You men are dismissed." The Hit-Wizards that escorted them all turned and left. "Follow me. I'll lead you to your dorms."

Russo led them through several corridors before coming upon a plain wooden door. Pushing it open they stepped into a large common room already occupied by twenty-one other young adults. Bookcases lined one wall and were filled with scores of books. A handful of sofas, tables and chairs were scattered throughout the room. Russo pointed to two separate doors that stood across from the door they came through.

"Girls on the left, boys on the right. There are potions next to each bed that will make it so you can get by with less sleep. Take them every night. Remember wake up is at six."

With that Russo was gone. Harry looked around the room and immediately spotted a familiar face. "Jeff!"

The former Hufflepuff walked over to the group smiling. He had joined the training sessions last year, at the start of the second term. As far as Harry knew he had become a Hit-Wizards straight out of Hogwarts.

"Hey guys. I didn't know they were recruiting straight out of Hogwarts!" Jeff said, standing up to greet his friends.

"The Minister said they wanted the best. It's only natural they asked me," Kyle stated, grinning.

"Nice to see you still overestimate yourself Kyle," Jeff replied with a laugh.

"Where do we put our stuff?" Geoffrey Hooper asked, withdrawing his shrunken trunk from his pocket.

"I'll show you the dorms. Er, sorry Katie, you'll have to ask one of the ladies to help you out."

"That's alright Jeff. I recognize Patricia over there," Katie stated as she walked toward the former Gryffindor.

Jeff led the group of boys toward the boys' dorm and pushed open the door. Along one wall there was ten beds and along another there was nine. Trunks sat at the end of most of the beds and a nightstand sat to the right. Nameplates were above the beds. Harry walked along the beds until he found his own at the end. He withdrew his shrunken trunk and placed it on the ground. With a wave of his wand it grew to its regular size.

Harry looked around the room, recognizing some names. He assumed Anwell was related to his ally, Lord Broderick Anwell. Conway was a former Gryffindor a few years older then him who use to get absolutely smashed during the parties thrown in Gryffindor tower. Gunn-Taylor sounded familiar and Harry was pretty sure he was a Beater on the Gryffindor team before the twins took over after Gunn-Taylor graduated.

"So you guys ready to be Golden Knights?" Jeff asked.

Harry smiled as the others discussed their feelings on becoming Britain's elite force. He was going to be something more then a Knight; something more than elite.

* * *

Harry flopped into his bed with a groan, the last one in his dorm to turn in for the night. Six months into his training and he still felt like shit every night. It was sometime in the beginning of December, at least he thought so. The whole time turner thing confused the shit out of him. Six months compounded into two months or something like that. He wasn't sure how it all worked out. It was explained to him on the first day but all he had done was stare blankly at the guy explaining it. The next day he had asked Eddie Carmichael how it worked and the Ravenclaw also explained it in a way that had Harry scratching his head. So he just gave up.

He did spend a lot of time training with the Knights, many of whom he knew, but most of his time was spent learning with the other two Areani only. When with the Knights they went over various forms of fighting; fighting with a wand, with a staff, with a non-magical weapon and without any weapon. They also learned Ward Constructing, Curse Breaking, Ancient Runes and healing. When it was just the Areani they were taught potions, tracking, stealth, disguise, information gathering and foreign languages. Harry had picked French, Italian, Japanese and Gobbledegook.

Their diets were all specifically tailored to be the healthiest possible. They were forced to drink several nutrient potions with each meal. They were also made to drink several potions that were to make it easier to learn and remember things. They were pretty toxic so every day a sample of their blood was taken to make sure they didn't suffer any ill effects. One of the older Knights Harry didn't know had a problem with the memory potions a few months into training and had to be taken off the potion for a few days and his system was flushed before they put him right back on.

Lancelot Russo was a task master, even if most of their training was under various different instructors. He expected nothing but perfection from each of them. The first day during dueling, the man had provoked Harry into a fight with his biting insults and Harry's quick temper. Five minutes later Harry was awoken to see that the crippled bastard had beaten him. Harry didn't like getting beaten so easily and so pushed himself even harder. He still couldn't beat the crippled bastard but their duels had started pushing thirty minutes. He had always been a good duelist but he knew he was no match for a lot of the older Death Eaters. Not only were they older, they were also more experienced, more knowledgeable, a lot more vicious and unlike him they had reached their magical maturity at the age of 25. Harry was powerful for his age, heck he was more powerful then most 21 year olds but he was still nine years from reaching his full potential.

His Ancient Runes skills were increasing at a rate Harry didn't think possible. Apparently the Potter affinity for runes was true. He wasn't that good with healing. It had been discovered that he had an innate healing ability; his body using his magic to speed up the healing process. However, his ability with the healing arts was average at best. His potions skills were still pretty bad too, making Harry realize that Snape was, though he loathed to admit this, right in that Harry really was terrible at potions.

He excelled in the other things he was learning though. Despite never having wielded a staff before he quickly picked up fighting with one. His skill with a sword, a broadsword to be more specific, was also pretty good, and he had picked up how to fight with a dagger as well. The basic skills he had learned in boxing, kick boxing, jujitsu and tai chi had helped him greatly in the hand-to-hand classes. He wasn't the best but he was up there.

Everything else came pretty easily to him. Years of sneaking around Hogwarts had made him excellent at stealth. He was so desperate to be someone else every now and a then that he could easily use muggle means to make a disguise. His eye for detail and ability to spot things easily when others couldn't, something that had made him a good seeker, made it easy for him to track targets and gather information based on body language and the layout of things.

During his free two hours he did one of three things, depending on how exhausted he was. If he had the energy he went for a fly. If he was tired he would sit in the common room and read, and converse with the others. If he was exhausted he would just head straight to bed. Rarely he had the energy to go for a fly, only going out on his broom a dozen or so times in the six months. They didn't even have weekends off. Just non stop training every day.

He wondered what his friends were doing. They weren't allowed to receive or send letters. Were they progressing along nicely with their morning training sessions? Had Ron worked up the courage to make a move on Lavender? There were so many things he wanted to know. Every time he found himself thinking about Hogwarts and all of his friends, he felt a pang in his chest. However, he never regretted his decision. He needed to be involved in the war. It was his destiny after all.

News was also pretty sparse. The coalition had battled Voldemort's forces again after receiving reinforcements from several of the European countries and the Magical Arabian Territories. Voldemort had gone after Greece this time. The coalition, along with the entire strength of Greece's government had won the battle, pushing Voldemort out of the country. The two sides had dug in around Greece's borders and cast so many wards around the battlefield it was all but impossible to leave or enter the area. Spell fire was constantly traded but nothing as serious as the first day of bloodshed had been reached yet.

* * *

Harry twirled the staff in his hand before slamming its end into the ground. A shock wave spread out from his position in all directions. His opponent, one of the instructors, waved his staff at the ground in front of him, raising a small wall of earth that absorbed the energy. The instructor jabbed his staff forward, a bolt of magic flying straight at Harry's chest. With a wave of his staff, Harry deflected the magic into the ground, dirt flying through the air.

When the first wands were crafted they were based off of staffs, which had been around for several hundred years. Wands had taken several centuries to make them what they were today. Staffs weren't as precise as wands. It was all but impossible to channel magical spells through a staff. They were instead used to channel raw magical energy and that was it. Some wondered why people still fought with staffs given the fact that wands let you do so much more. The answer was that you could channel more magic through the staff then the wand.

As Harry prepared to strike out, his staff poised to let loose a spear of magic, a commotion from the facility drew everyone's attention. The fighting training took place outside in the meadow and forest. Moving toward them as fast as possible was Lancelot Russo and he was yelling at them to stop their duels.

Harry leaned on his staff and wiped some sweat from his forehead. The other Knights and Areani stopped what they were doing as well, looking at their head instructor.

"Death Eaters are attacking Diagon Alley in full force. The Ministry has sent in all of its forces. You guys are to act as the reserve units. We're going to move you to Hit-Wizard Bravo Base. It's a few months earlier then we would have liked but that's okay. You have five minutes to get inside and put on your battle robes!" Russo shouted.

The young adults began to scramble up toward the training facility. While they wouldn't be joining the fight, that didn't mean they might not see some action if they were needed. As Harry was running by Russo, the man stuck his hand out and stopped Harry in his tracks.

"You have a different mission that the Minister picked you for specifically. The Death Eaters have extremely powerful wards up keeping people from leaving the Diagon Alley District. Several hundred civilians are still trapped inside the alley. We have Curse Breakers trying to bring down the wards but it won't be for several hours. However, if we could destroy some of their power stones we could bring down the wards faster."

"You want me to find and destroy the power stones?" Harry asked.

"Aurors took care of two found on the main strip of Diagon Alley but intelligence believes most of them are hidden in Knockturn Alley, behind the main force of Death Eaters."

Harry nodded his head. "Why me? Why not one of the other Areani? They are older."

"You are the better fighter and are the best at stealth. Plus it seems the Minister has a personal interest in you. He's testing you." Russo shot him a look, warning Harry with a glance what it meant when the higher ups had a personal interest in you. "Go and get ready. You'll be getting debriefed and dropped off in five minutes."

Harry ran to his dorm where he quickly strapped on the armor he purchased last summer. He strapped on his extra wands, holstered a dagger to his thigh and tied his combat belt, which was a gift from Moody last Christmas, around his waist. The combat belt contained the first-aid kit he had gotten from Sirius during that same Christmas and a handful of gems to use to set up quick wards. He also shrunk his staff and stuck it in one of the pouches. Grabbing his invisibility cloak, Harry took a deep breath and left the room.

* * *

The back entrance to Knockturn Alley was blocked. The Death Eaters had sealed the entrance from inside Knockturn to prevent Ministry forces from attacking their rear. That meant Harry had to move in from Diagon Alley.

The block of Charring Cross Road that the Leaky Cauldron sat on was blocked off. Auxiliaries, dressed as muggle policemen, had cordoned the area off to prevent muggles from getting close. The bookstore that sat next to the Leaky Cauldron was on fire. Several Magical Repair squad members were fighting the flames. The third floor of the Leaky Cauldron had collapsed onto the second floor. Making his way into the pub Harry saw that the bar that ran along the length of one side of the main room was hit with an explosion hex and a large chunk was missing from the middle. The tables and chairs were either blasted into pieces or thrown about the room.

Moving into the courtyard Harry saw that the brick wall, that when tapped correctly turned into a doorway, had been blasted into smithereens. Both the apothecary on the right and the cauldron shop on the left, the first two stores you saw when entering Diagon Alley, had collapsed. Gladrags Wizardwear, which was next to the apothecary, was still standing and had been turned into a casualty collection point by several Auxiliaries.

Harry pressed himself against the wall of Gladrags as a Hit-Wizard holding his bleeding stomach stumbled into the clothing shop. The sound of spellfire and explosions could be heard further up the alley. However, helping out in the fighting wasn't why Harry was here. He needed to get into Knockturn Alley, behind enemy lines. He pulled his invisibility cloak tighter around himself and walked further up the alley. He had several silencing spells on his body as well as ones that would mask his heat signature and whatever odor he might be giving off. Hell he even had cast a disillusion charm on himself too, in case his cloak was removed from his body.

The fighting wasn't just limited to the intersection of Knockturn an Diagon. The Death Eaters had spread far enough down Diagon that they were at the intersection of Diagon Alley and Eagle Street, the side street which was located between Madam Malkin's and Flourish and Blotts. Hit-Wizard Alpha Base was located on Eagle Street and seemed to be the area where the most intense fighting was taking place. How was Harry to get by several dozen meters of Death Eaters and Ministry forces trading spellfire?

He glanced up at the rooftops and found his solution. The front half of Quality Quidditch Supplies had collapsed but Harry was sure he could still get in and grab a broom. It was far enough away from the fighting where no Aurors or Hit-Wizards were using it as cover but still close enough that he had to dodge a stray spell every now and then. He carefully climbed his way over the rubble, his foot slipping on a slick piece of debris.

Glancing down his eyes took in the blood soaking some of the collapsed masonry. Looking closer he saw the crushed remains of a father and young son under all the rubble. Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath before moving further into the room. If he didn't hurry and destroy as many power stones as possible, there would be more dead fathers and sons.

Most of the brooms were on display in the front of the store and so had been crushed when it had collapsed. Still, the older models sat in the back of the store and Harry grabbed one. He didn't need a Firebolt to fly up to a roof. He could have just used the broom to fly into Knockturn Alley but the magic a broom gave off when in use could give him away. He couldn't allow that, he needed to remain undetected.

He hopped on the broom and shot into the air, flying above the rubble of the front half. He made his way to the rooftops of the stores across the alley and landed softly, discarding the broom. He made sure the cloak was still wrapped around his body and made his way over the rooftops. There was small gaps between them that he had to jump but he did it all easily enough. He moved over four stores before coming to a dead stop.

Three Death Eaters were moving towards him, their wands clutched in their hands. They were looking down at the fight going on the ground. Apparently they recognized that moving above the battle allowed them to move behind enemy lines as well. He had two options; let them pass and continue with his mission undetected and let them potentially wreak havoc or attempt to take them out without alerting others to his presence. The answer was obvious. He was Harry Potter. He wasn't always about doing what was smart but he always did what was right.

He moved forward , quietly discarding his cloak to allow him free movement. The disillusion charm didn't make him invisible but since the Death Eaters weren't paying attention to the area they were moving towards, rather keeping their focus on the ground, they didn't notice the chameleon like body in front of them.

Waving his hand Harry cast a wandless silencing charm on all three of them before stepping into them. His fist slammed into the throat of the middle Death Eater, causing him to stumble backwards and instinctively grab his throat. Harry grabbed the wand arm of the Death Eater on the right and twisted it so the man dropped his wand in pain. Slamming his left elbow onto the Death Eater's arm, he felt the man's elbow give way under his blow, breaking and bending the wrong way. Still holding the now broken arm, Harry kicked out with his left leg and nailed the last Death Eater in the stomach, causing him to bend over in pain.

He released the broken armed Death Eater and shifted toward the middle Death Eater who had raised his wand, even though he still clutched his throat with his free hand. Harry used his left arm to bat the man's arm away before he could fire a curse. He slammed his open hands into the side of the middle Death Eater's head, right in the ears, disorienting him. Before the last of the Death Eater could recover from the kick to his stomach and stand up from his bent position, Harry stepped forward and punted him in the face. The wizard's head snapped up as his mask cracked in half from the blow.

Harry shifted toward the middle Death Eater and gave him a quick two-jab-left-hook combo that sent him sprawling to the ground. Spinning he delivered a backhanded strike to the broken armed Death Eater, causing the mask to fly from the man's face and make him stagger in pain. The man looked like he might go tumbling off the edge of the rooftop but Harry grabbed him by the robes and prevented him from falling. He pulled the broken armed Death Eater toward him and drove his knee into the wizard's stomach before delivering an elbow to the back of the man's head.

As the first of the three slumped to the ground unconscious Harry turned toward the other two. The one he had punted in the face had recovered and had his wand pointed at Harry's disillusioned form. Ducking underneath the silent spell sent his way, Harry withdrew the dagger from his thigh and lunging forward, slashed at the man's wand hand. He severed the thumb and cut the wand in half. The man lurched backwards in shock as blood spurted from the stump that used to be his thumb. Harry flipped the dagger in his hand from holding the blade upright to holding it with the blade pointing down. Swinging the dagger again, he caught the man in the temple with the hilt and the Death Eater crumpled to the ground.

The final Death Eater was trying to struggle to his feet but Harry's attacks to the throat, ears and nose must have effected the man more then Harry would have thought. It appeared Harry had given the Death Eater a severe concussion as he had trouble rising to his feet. Walking toward the groggy figure Harry lifted his foot up and delivered the hardest kick he could with the heel of his foot right to the forehead. The final of the three Death Eaters slumped to the ground. Harry sheathed his dagger, no longer needing it.

Harry looked at his right hand, which was bruised from delivering punches to the mask of the Death Eaters. While the mask weren't made from the strongest material, that didn't mean they didn't hurt when you punched them. He looked at the unconscious Death Eaters and decided what to do with them. Withdrawing his wand, he pressed it into the side of each of the three and cast a stunner, smothering any light from being seen. He'd tell Russo about them when the mission was completed. He collected his invisibility cloak and draped it back over himself. Hopefully no one on the ground had spotted the stray spell and would send someone to investigate.

He finished making his way over to the intersection of Knockturn and Diagon. Looking down he could spot several dozen Death Eaters trying to decide on a course of action. Across the entrance to Knockturn Alley, Gringotts appeared to be in a magical lockdown; a glowing dome of brown magic encircling the bank that deflected all curses that hit it.

Harry turned to the left when the rooftops he was walking on turned left. He could see, as he started making his way over the roofs of Knockturn Alley, that the quality of the roofs declined the farther he went in. They were definitely dirtier and some looked to be worn out. He found the shortest building he could and carefully lowered himself as far as possible before dropping the last few feet to the ground.

He landed in a crouch and made sure his cloak was still securely around him. Reaching into one of the pouches of the combat belt around his waist he pulled out the ward powering stone sensor the Ministry had. It was a rare item that the Ministry kept a heavily guarded secret. Anyone and everyone who knew of their existence signed numerous magical contracts before even being told about them, let alone being able to use one. If such a thing fell into the wrong hands, wards could be circumvented a lot easier. Only two were in existence, at least in the United Kingdom. They didn't locate the power stones for you but if you were near one, they let you know.

Harry moved into the first shop he came across, noting the fancy looking glass pieces that littered the shelves. He walked quickly around the store but the sensor in his hand didn't do anything at all. He went to leave, pausing at the doors, letting a pair of Death Eaters run pass him and toward the fighting.

He met the same result with the next two stores but paused at a small alleyway between some stores. Two Death Eaters stood in the relatively small space between the two buildings, standing shoulder to shoulder. There was a few inches between the Death Eaters arms and the side of the buildings, meaning there was no space to move. Harry took several steps into the side alley and the sensor in his hand pulsed.

Harry put the sensor away and moved as close as possible. Taking a deep breath he tossed off the cloak. The Death Eaters saw his chameleon like form and went to raise their wands. Harry slammed his open palm into the chest of one of the Death Eaters, making the wizard stumble backwards. He grabbed the second one by his robes and slammed him into one of the walls before slamming him into the other, watching with satisfaction as the man's head hit into the brickwall. As the Death Eater fell to the ground, Harry turned toward the first one, only to see a wand being aimed at him. He grabbed the outstretched arm and jammed his thumb into a pressure point on the wrist. The Death Eater's hand spasmed as he tried to jerk it away from Harry's grip, his wand falling from his twitching fingers.

With Harry's grip still on his hand the Death Eater started to scream. Harry lashed out with his free hand, punching the man as hard as he could in the solar plexus and knocking the breath out of the man, cutting his scream off. Harry saw out of the corner of his eye the second Death Eater struggle into a sitting position.

"Hel..."

The second Death Eater didn't get to finish his yell for help because Harry's foot connected with the side of his face. The first Death Eater struggled to regain his breath, Harry's thumb still digging into the pressure point. Harry jammed his elbow against the man's temple and saw through the eye holes in the mask as the Death Eater's eyes rolled into the back of his head. Harry let go of the limp figure and stepped toward the back of the alley.

He could see the power stone embedded in the wall about ten feet off the ground. Harry walked back to the downed Death Eaters and grabbed one of their mask. He moved back toward the wall and tossed the mask on the ground. He crouched down and jabbed the mask with his wand. The mask shifted into a giant spider. With a mental nudge from Harry the spider climbed up the wall and made to grab the stone. However, the spider instantly started to thrash around before turning into ash.

It looked like the power stone wasn't just powering the wards that surrounded the Diagon Alley District, but also a defensive ward around itself as well. Harry reached into his combat belt and withdrew a few gems. He grabbed his discarded invisibility cloak, threw it over himself and began to use his wand to etch runes into the gems. It took him five minutes of quick etching before he was satisfied. Moving back toward the entrance, Harry sat gems down at either side of the entrance and activated the ward. A notice-me-not ward and a silencing ward popped into existence over the entrance.

Walking back toward the power stone, Harry carefully aimed his wand and launched a beam of raw magic right at the power stone. A loud 'gong' sound echoed throughout alleyway as the ward around the stone failed. Taking a deep breath, Harry launched another beam of raw magic, this one slamming into the stone. The stone exploded with a large 'boom' and a fiery explosion. Bits and pieces of the surrounding brick was thrown through the air and Harry had to cast a shield to prevent his cloak from being shredded by the shrapnel.

"Right," Harry breathed. "Let's hope my wards kept that explosion from being heard."

* * *

A/N: Just in case anyone is wondering why Harry doesn't use magic to subdue the Death Eaters its because spells give off light. When magical people see flashes of light in different colors they know spells are being fired. If either Death Eaters or Hit-Wizards saw flashes of light on the rooftops above them they would investigate. Same thing if the Death Eaters saw flashes of light behind their lines.


	11. And Break

Peruvianprincess- In my story Harry has only killed one person so far and that was accidental. He doesn't have that killer mentality yet. He builds up to it eventually but right now he just can't kill people because he is still that high moral person we know from the books. As for the other stuff, well to be honest I completely forgot about it... so yeah.

Chapter 11 And Break

Harry looked at the building in front of him in curiosity. He had no idea the wizarding world had brothels, though it made sense that it would be in Knockturn Alley. The building was three stories tall and a little grubby looking but could easily be mistaken as an inn. The name "Wild Veela" and the painting of a scantily clad female on the sign hanging above the door gave away its true attentions.

A loud explosion echoed throughout the area and shook the ground. He was itching to join the fighting but he knew how important his job was. He had been in the Diagon Alley District for a little over thirty minutes and the fighting had been going on for almost an hour. This needed to end for the sake of all the civilians trapped in their townhouses along the side streets or the ones who had been doing their morning shopping when the attack had taken place.

He stepped into the brothel and immediately the sensor in his hand gave a small pulse. Harry glanced around and spotted two Death Eaters standing near the back of the pub that seemed to occupy most of the first floor. One was sitting at a chair, his feet propped up on the table. The other was pacing anxiously back and forth in front of the bar, ranting.

"Guard duty! They give us guard duty! We should be out there fighting. I didn't join the Dark Lord to guard things. I joined to teach mudblood and blood traitors their place in society!"

Harry tuned out the rant of the pacing Death Eater and made his way over to the one sitting down. He jabbed his wand into the wizard's side and before they could react, cast a silent stunner. The body went limp and Harry had to make sure they stayed in a sitting position, otherwise the other one would get suspicious.

After making sure the stunned Death Eater wouldn't fall out of his seat, Harry moved over to the pacing one. Sliding his cloak off his body, he maneuvered himself behind the pacing Death Eater and quickly grabbed him in a blood choke hold. Using his forearm and bicep he applied pressure on the carotid arteries. Within seconds the Death Eater went unconscious due to the lack of blood going to his brain. Stepping backwards Harry laid the body on the ground.

Taking out his wand, Harry drew a complicated rune in the air. After completion the rune pulsed twice before a wave of yellow magic shot from it and engulfed the room. Silencing charm up, Harry looked around the room, wondering where they would hide a power stone. Twisting his wand he started transfiguring the furniture in the room into little monkeys, which he sent out in search of the stone. He hoped the stone had a defensive ward like the last one and would give itself away. The monkeys climbed along the wall and ceiling, throwing bottles of liquor against the floor. One of the monkeys went to grab a bottle of goblin mead but twitched violently and its skin melted off its body. Harry grimaced but made the rest of the monkeys throw themselves at the bottle. The ward around the bottle flared brightly as the almost two dozen monkeys began to twitch and have their skin melt off.

Harry frowned as the ward stayed strong. Some wards you could overload by making it work a lot in a short amount of time. Apparently either this ward wasn't one of them or two dozen monkeys wasn't enough to overload it. Aiming his wand, Harry let loose a blast of raw magic, where it slammed into the ward. The ward collapsed with the sound of twisting metal. Twirling his wand, a hammer made of pure magic formed at the tip of Harry's wand, which he used to hit the bottle containing the power stone. The bottle shattered, goblin mead spilling everywhere. Raising the magical hammer again, Harry slammed it into the stone, which cracked. He slammed it onto the stone again, shielding his face with his free arm as the stone exploded.

The second stone was destroyed, weakening the wards by that much more. Harry figured one or two more would do the trick and get the wards weak enough to be brought down easily. He scooped up his invisibility cloak from where he dropped it and made his way out of the brothel.

Harry finished making his way up one side of the alley, reached the end and turned around to check the other side of the alley. He had a feeling he knew where another stone would be. He walked into Borgin and Burke's and the sensor gave a little pulse. However, a power stone wasn't the only thing waiting for Harry in the store.

"So our mystery guest has arrived. When Mulciber told me he felt his wards weakening and that someone was destroying his power stones, I knew I had to look for myself. How could someone have gotten behind our forces? Your wards on the side alley were decent but I was easily able to take them down. When I saw that you hadn't eliminated this stone yet, I decided to sit here and wait for you."

Augustus Rookwood was easily a half a foot taller then Harry. He probably had three and a half stones on Harry too and it didn't look like fat. Rookwood was a former Unspeakable but no one was sure exactly which part of the Department of Mysteries he used to be a part of. It was said that he was second in terms of fighting only to the Dark Lord and Dumbledore.

Harry clenched his cloak tighter around himself. Should he run or try to find that last stone and destroy it? The store was filled with hundreds of dark arts items and had a back room he had never been in before. It would be difficult finding what he needed.

"Why don't you take off your cloak and introduce yourself mystery guest," Rookwood muttered, a feral grin on his face. "No? _Pulvis_."

A white powder flew from Rookwood's wand. Harry stuck his wand out of his cloak and a blast of wind threw the powder back at Rookwood. Harry threw himself to the side as Rookwood launched several spells at the area he just occupied. Getting to his feet Harry launched a pair of cutters.

Both of his cutters were blocked easily and a barrage of spells were launched at Harry. The continuous use of magic made the disillusionment on Harry fail, exposing his arm and wand whenever he had to stick it outside the cloak to cast a spell. Harry dropped to the ground and rolled away as various shelves were destroyed under the onslaught of spells, some of the items detonating in violent magical explosions.

"Where are you mystery guest?" Rookwood demanded, launching a cloud of powder at the area to Harry's left.

Harry swept his wand toward a shelf and banished the entire thing at Rookwood. The former Unspeakable threw up a dome of crackling blue defensive magic. The shelf slammed into the shield and exploded in a shower of splinters, most of the items that sat on the shelf disintegrating against the shield. One item, a gold chain made it through the shield and made a beeline right toward Rookwood's neck. However, Rookwood swatted the gold chain with his wand and it shattered into pieces.

"_Expello_."

Harry's spell slammed into the shield and ricocheted back at him. He side stepped the spell and was forced to shield himself as Rookwood attacked with a piercer. With Harry's position exposed he was forced to dance away from another series of curses thrown his way. He made his way behind the sales counter and crouched down. The backroom was right behind him and he knew he had to look inside because that is where the power stone probably was.

Harry hit some debris with transfiguration spells, creating a few wolves and a falcon to hopefully distract Rookwood long enough. Harry crawled into the backroom and gave his creations the signal to attack.

As the snarls of the wolves and muttered spells from Rookwood filled the shop, Harry carefully looked around the cluttered mess that was the backroom. It would be impossible to locate the stone in all this mess. He twisted his wand and watched as half of the mess lifted off the floor and shot for the doorway. He dove out of the way as several stones worth of dark items went flying through the doorway and, with a flick of his wand, right at Rookwood.

Harry could hear Rookwood growl in frustration as he made the other half of the mess go flying out the backroom and toward Rookwood as well. The only things remaining in the room were several creepy looking things and the power stone, which had fallen out of a pile of items. The nature of the stone and the ward around it wouldn't allow it to be manipulated by magic, making it dead weight.

Harry launched a powerful jet of magic at the stone, the ward around it flaring brightly before disappearing with a pop. He launched another one at the stone and smiled in satisfaction when it exploded. He turned toward the doorway to be met in the face with a cloud of powder, which coated his invisible form. Rookwood stood there, his eyes wide with victory.

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

Harry dove out of the way, the hair on the back of his neck standing up as the spell flew by him. He came up in a roll and maneuvered the cloak so it still covered his head and fluttered out behind him. He was forced to dodge a bludgeoner aimed at his knee cap.

"Come on you headless fucker!" Rookwood shouted. "Let's see how good of a fighter you are without anything to help you out."

"_Inflatus_!"

The five jets of light were deflected back at Harry and he had to dive out of the way to avoid them. Rookwood launched a dark gray jet of light that Harry tried to shield himself from. However, the spell broke through his shield and he had to quickly dodge out of the way.

"_Flamen_!"

Harry's spell was batted away as if it was nothing more then an annoying fly. Rookwood threw a cutter at Harry that the teen tried to dodge but it caught him in his upper right arm. Harry cried out in pain as the spell cut deep enough to nick his bone. His arm went limp, his wand falling from his lifeless fingers.

Rookwood launched another spell but Harry managed to throw himself out of the way in time. He unholstered the secondary wand on his hip and used it to shield himself from a flesh-eating curse. He summoned his holly wand, which he managed to grab with his already occupied left hand. Using both wands, Harry channeled a pair of bludgeoners.

The bludgeoners were reflected back at Harry and he hastily shielded himself from them. He ducked underneath a spear of purple light that left the smell of burnt ozone in the air. He needed to force Rookwood from the door so he could make a run for it. There was no way he was winning this battle.

Harry struck the ground in front of Rookwood with a few explosion hexes, forcing the man to shield himself from flying shrapnel from the floor. Harry holstered his secondary wand and waved his primary one. A large tiger appeared out of thin air and launched itself at Rookwood. The man didn't even move as he hit it with a Killing Curse and then banished its corpse at Harry.

Harry reversed his conjuration and the tiger disappeared in thin air before it could hit him. However, Rookwood had launched a curse that was hidden by the flying tiger corpse. Harry got slammed in the chest with a powerful bludgeoner that not only cracked some ribs, but sent him flying backwards and into the wall.

"Pathetic," Rookwood sneered. "You weren't even worth my time."

Harry struggled to rise but couldn't. It was really hard to breath. Suddenly Harry felt as if a heavy blanket of magic he hadn't even known was there was lifted. Rookwood looked around with faint amusement before looking at Harry's still headless form.

"Looks like your actions weren't in vain my headless mystery guest. You managed to take down the wards! I'm sure they'll give your dear parents a metal for your brave actions. _Avada Kedavra_!"

As the green jet of light flew at Harry, the teen closed his eyes. Then, with a hook behind his naval, Harry was gone.

"Merlin Potter, what the hell happened to you?" Russo demanded as Harry landed in a heap at his feet, the invisibility cloak falling from his head.

"Rookwood. Barely escaped," Harry gasped out, cradling his arm.

"We need a healer stat!" Russo yelled.

Immediately a green robed witch rushed into the room and pried Harry's arm away from his chest so she could view the damage. Harry groaned as the gash in his bicep flared in pain and his groan caused his chest to flare in pain. Harry felt himself start to go woozy. He had lost a lot of blood and he was pretty sure he was going to pass out soon.

"Hey Russo, what is today's date?" Harry struggled to ask.

"It's the sixteenth of December," Russo answered, frowning at the teen in front of him. "Now stop talking, you aren't doing yourself any favors by continuously opening your trap."

"Izzolmst Christmas," Harry slurred. Harry's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.

* * *

Remus glanced up at the cloaked figure standing in his doorway. His hand instinctively went to his wand, which lay on the desk in front of him. It was early Christmas morning, besides the unfortunate law enforcement officials on duty during the holiday the place was suppose to be empty, which is why the cloaked figure was so alarming, especially since the figure's right arm was hidden under his cloak. Things had been testy after the Diagon Alley Attack. Thirty law enforcement officials had been killed, mostly Auxiliaries but also a few Aurors and Hit-Wizards. Death Eater casualties were unconfirmed but a good score were found dead and another dozen were taken into custody. Not to mention the dozens of destroyed stores and townhouses, and thirty-three dead civilians.

"Hullo Remus," the figured stated, lowering their hood with their left hand.

"Harry! Merlin, no one has heard from you in two and a half months!" Remus cried, standing up and moving around his desk. He pulled his unofficial nephew into a hug before releasing him and running a critical eye over his appearance.

Harry was an inch or two taller then he was when he left, bringing him to around five feet ten inches. He also bulked up a little bit and if Remus had to guess probably weighed around a hundred and sixty-five pounds. Other then that there appeared to be nothing different in the teen.

"It's been a while Remus," Harry stated with a grin.

"What are you doing here?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's Christmas Remus. I couldn't let you spend it in your office. Come with me to the Weasleys. I want to see everyone."

"I don't know. I got this report that has to be..." Remus was interrupted.

"If you don't, you aren't getting your present." Harry jiggled the rucksack on his back. "Besides, you're the head of your department; make some intern do the report."

Remus chuckled and closed the folder that sat in front of him. "You've convinced me. We'll have to stop off at my place so I can grab some things."

Harry waited as Remus packed up his things. He shifted his weight anxiously, ready to see his friends for the first time in, at least for him, seven and a half months.

"Have you heard from Sirius?" Harry asked.

"He sent a letter the other day. He's fine but bored. The stalemate in Greece has been going on for three weeks now and he says Dumbledore is the only leader of the coalition who appreciates a good prank."

Harry snorted. That sounded like Sirius alright. Remus ushered Harry out of his office and then closed the door behind him. As the werewolf turned to lead Harry to the fireplaces in the atrium, he noticed something.

"What happened to your arm?" Remus asked.

Harry glanced down at his right arm, which was still in a sling from the damage Rookwood had inflicted upon it. "Quidditch accident," Harry answered.

Remus looked at his nephew with a raised eyebrow. "Do you expect me to believe that?"

"Nope but its the most you're going to get."

Remus inclined his head. "Fair enough."

Thirty minutes, a floo trip to the Marauder's House and a side-along apparition later, Harry found himself at the end of the path leading up to the Burrow. Remus started walking up the path and Harry, cautiously, followed.

"What about their wards?"

"The Weasleys have wards that prevent all apparition and incoming portkeys. They also have wards that keep out most dark creatures and any with the dark mark, along with all the basics, including a proximity ward."

Harry frowned, while it seemed like a decent amount, it wasn't enough. "They should have wards that prevent anyone from entering the area without a Weasley's permission."

Remus shrugged his shoulders. "I've told them to upgrade them but they can't afford too and Bill can only do so much between his job at Gringotts and working for the Order."

"Does the Order keep him busy?" Harry asked. "Last time I was around, Order wasn't doing much."

"Well I didn't sign Moody's contract so I don't know anything about it. All I know is Molly has been worrying more then usual about Bill and his work for the Order."

Harry stroked his chin in thought. Several purebloods had been found murdered in their homes over the past two months. None of the wards around the houses had been destroyed but evidence of tampering had been found. The purebloods were all discovered to be Death Eaters, lower ranking ones at that. Bill was a skilled enough Curse Breaker to be able to tamper with the wards enough to get a person or two inside a house.

"Is that you Remus?" Arthur Weasley's voice called out.

Harry looked up and saw the elder Weasley standing at the door with his wand clenched in his hand. Behind him Harry could see Bill and Charlie also standing there. They were making sure the new arrivals weren't threats.

"It's me Arthur and I have Harry with me."

"Harry?"

Mrs. Weasley came bustling out of the house despite her husband's protesting and immediately pulled Harry into a tight hug. Harry sucked in a breath as his injury sent a lance of pain shooting up his arm. Mrs. Weasley let go of him quickly and glanced at his arm.

"What happened?" she asked in concern.

"Quidditch accident," Harry answered.

She frowned at him in disapproval and quickly ushered him inside.

"Molly we're supposed to verify who they are!" Arthur protested.

"Nonsense Arthur. Harry needs no verification. Just a nice meal and sometime with family." Mrs. Weasley led Harry to the table where piles of eggs, pancakes and sausages still sat. "I was just about to wake up Ron and Ginny for them to have breakfast. The twins should be arriving any minute now. Percy was going to come but his girlfriend invited him to spend the day with her family today last minute. Apparently she's been working hard for the Ministry overseas and didn't know she'd be back until this morning."

Harry grinned up at Remus as Mrs. Weasley started filling up a plate of food for him. When the plate was set in front of him, he poured a healthy amount of maple syrup over everything and dug in. While he had plenty of eggs during his training, delicious tasting pancakes and sausages were not part of breakfast.

"Remus, you're more then welcome to have some yourself," Mrs. Weasley added as she started climbing the stairs.

"Yeah Remus, come on and eat up," Harry said through a mouthful of food.

Arthur reluctantly put his wand away, as did Bill and Charlie. Bill sat down across from Harry and smirked as the teen shoveled food into his mouth at a rate Ron would be hard pressed to match. Remus put a much smaller amount onto a plate and took the seat to Harry's left.

What sounded like a small herd of hippogriffs was coming down the stairs. Ron appeared seconds later, followed by the much quieter Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.

"Mate! Good to see you," Ron stated, slapping Harry on the back.

Harry nodded his head at Ron, to busy shoving food down his face to say anything. Ron joined him, piling tons of food onto his plate and shoveling it into his mouth.

"Goodness Harry, don't they feed you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Harry swallowed what was in his mouth. "They do but nothing as good as your cooking Mrs. Weasley. They focus more on nutrition then taste."

"How is the training going Harry?" Mr. Weasley inquired. "Ron told us the Minister himself met with you to convince you to train under Ministry instructions."

Harry paused from shoveling a mouthful of eggs into his mouth. "It's going good. I'm a lot better then I used to be."

"Teach you anything cool?" Ron asked.

"Just fighting and some other stuff like healing," Harry answered.

Before anyone could press Harry for an answer, loud noises came from the living room. Everyone made a move toward their wands before the twins came bounding into the room, smiles on their faces. Noticing everyone looking at them wearily, they just grinned wider.

"No need to be so happy to see us," Fred quipped.

"Your enthusiasm is a little overwhelming," George added.

"What's that you two have in your hands?" Ginny asked, indicating two metal round balls that fit easily in the twins' palms.

The twins, being who they were, decided to explain in that weird way in which they went back and forth, finishing each others sentences.

"It's a magical grenade."

Most of the Weasley's looked confused at what a grenade was. Harry indicated with his hands and his mouth that a grenade was something that exploded. Looks of realization came on their faces.

"We call it a MagFrag."

"You stick your wand into this hole right here."

"Get your minds out of the gutters Harry and Ron," Fred chastised, rolling his eyes at the snickering duo.

"Cast the spell of your choice, though only about twenty or so spells will work."

"And the gem will hold the spell."

"Until you press this button here."

"In which case the gem will be split and the magic in it will fissure."

"Which will cause the magic to explode outward in a wave of energy."

"You have about eight seconds after pressing the button before that happens."

"The patronus, stunners and explosion hexes work the best."

Harry nodded, thoroughly impressed with the creation. It would definitely be a benefit for the Ministry to have such a device on their side. Mr. Weasley clapped both of his sons on the back, pride evident on his face.

"Will your department be able to make enough of those to be effective though?" Charlie asked.

"We don't make them," George stated.

Fred opened his mouth to continue but Charlie held up his hand. "None of that twin speak either. It gets annoying after a while."

The twins rolled their eyes before Fred started talking. "You guys know Lord Martin Boot right?"

"Doesn't he own several greenhouses in southern London?" Bill asked, racking his memory.

"Largest supplier of magical plants to the apothecaries in both the United Kingdom and Ireland," Remus supplied.

"Right you are Remus," George said. "Well at the urging of the Minister he created a new company called MagiCorp. What ever we invent in Games and Development, MagiCorp mass produces for the Ministry."

Nods of understanding went up around the room. The muggle world was filled with private companies creating the weapons and equipment used by the armed forces of the government. The magical world was now doing the same thing.

"Sit down for breakfast you two," Mrs. Weasley said, indicating the food still on the table.

"Sorry mom but we already ate. We were up early putting the finishing touches on the MagFrag," Fred informed his mother.

Though they didn't grab a plate, the twins did sit down at the table. Small talk was being exchanged by everyone around the room as Harry and Ron continued to scarf down their food, Ginny going at a slower pace.

"Hey Ron, you ever ask Lavender out?" Harry wondered.

"Er yeah, about two weeks ago," Ron answered.

"Oh Ron, why didn't you tell us?" Mrs. Weasley demanded. "Your first girlfriend! My little boy is growing up."

Fred and George sniggered while Ron sank lower in his seat. "That's why I didn't tell you."

"What about you Ginny? Any boys in your life?"

Harry saw Ginny's eyes dart toward him and he quickly averted his gaze. "No mum," Ginny answered.

"That's such a shame. You're a beautiful girl. Just need to find the right guy I guess."

Harry felt Mrs. Weasley staring him down but kept his gaze on the table. He suspected Mrs. Weasley wanted him to end up marrying Ginny but he wasn't positive on that. Sure he found Ginny attractive and they got along but Harry wasn't so sure he felt that way about her.

"Let's go for a walk or something," Harry said, standing up from his empty plate.

"If you do, remember to stay inside the wards," Mr. Weasley warned.

* * *

Everyone was having such a good time after exchanging presents that no one noticed Harry slip from the room. Harry, making sure he was out of eyesight from everyone, cast a disillusionment charm over himself and slipped out the back door into the darkness. He had another reason for visiting the Weasley family. Mulciber had been spotted in the area recently and since the man was known for his warding skill, Harry believed the man was testing the strength of the wards around the Burrow. That was why when he and the others had been going for a walk outside, he had cast his own perimeter ward around the property, inside the Burrow's outer wards.

The more powerful wards around the Weasley household couldn't be taken down without someone noticing, mostly because powerful wards gave off a flash of light and emitted a loud sound when they went down. However, a proximity ward could be taken down easily with none the wiser. Which was why it was only Harry that knew a dozen men had entered the Burrow's property from the woods. Not Death Eaters, since the anti-Dark Mark ward was still up and not dark creatures because the wards prevented all but werewolves from entering the property and even then the full moon was six days ago so it made no sense for Greyback to attack.

Harry moved quickly across the lawn, spotting the figures as they tried to move stealthily across the open land that made up the Burrow's backyard. The men were dressed all in black, their wands clutched in their hands. It was easy to see they didn't come here to exchange presents.

Harry removed the sling from his right arm. There was still a stinging pain and the healer had warned he could reopen the wound if he wasn't careful, which is why he wore a sling, but he needed both arms right now. On the plus side, unable to use his right hand during training had improved both his skill with his left hand and his wandless magic.

Back in the Burrow, Remus frowned as he finally noticed Harry wasn't in the room anymore. "Anyone know where Harry went?" Remus asked.

The Weasleys all looked around, frowning. "Harry?" Mrs. Weasley called out.

Remus moved into the kitchen but didn't spot the teen. He stuck his head out the back door and looked around but it was too dark to see much. He was about to call out but a strange smell entered his nose. He quickly pulled his had back in and went to the living room.

"Arthur, several people are on the property. I don't know how many but I could smell them and I don't recognize any of their scents."

All the male Weasleys immediately stood up. Ginny went to stand as well but Mr. Weasley stopped her.

"Stay with your mother Ginny."

"But I can fight dad!" Ginny protested.

"If one manages to slip pass us you need to protect your mother; she isn't a fighter."

Ginny grumbled but nodded her head and sat down. Mrs. Weasley put her arm around her daughter and pulled her close. She knew how much her daughter wanted to prove she didn't need the constant babying the rest of the family gave her.

Remus led the group outside, where they spread out. With a flick of his wand, Bill sent a flare up into the air, which illuminated the entire yard. What the group saw, shocked them all.

"Harry?" Remus asked.

Standing over twelve unconscious figures was Harry Potter, his left hand clutching his right arm where his wound had reopened. The Boy-Who-Lived also had a black eye and busted lip but other then that appeared fine.

"Bloody hell mate, you take them all out on your own?" Ron asked, awe in his voice.

"With the help of a disillusionment charm," Harry answered with a shrug.

"I'll go contact the Ministry," Mr. Weasley stated, casting a glance at Harry before moving off to the house.

"The Ministry isn't just training you in fighting is it?" Remus asked, looking Harry over with a critical eye.

"You know the attack on Diagon Alley, how the Ministry was able to take down the wards so quickly?" Harry asked.

Remus nodded his head, it had been in the press for over a week. "Of course. The Minister said he sent in someone behind the Death Eaters lines to locate and destroy the power stones and weaken the wards." Harry nodded his head as it took a moment for Remus to put the pieces together. "Wait, that was you?"

Harry indicated his still bleeding right arm. "This was a result of a run in with Rookwood. I'm being trained to accomplish things brute force can't."

Ron whistled appreciatively. "Blimey mate, you took out those three Death Eaters on the roof? The Prophet was speculating on a trained vigilante."

"Yeah. Several in the Ministry already know it was me. I wasn't taught to hide my magical signature at the time so when Aurors went over the scene, they discovered my signature in several places. Diggory had to make sure no one said anything. You guys can't say anything either."

"We won't Harry" Fred promised.

"Yeah we're used to keeping Ministry secrets," George stated.

The sound of several people apparating filled the air and everyone turned to see eight Auxiliaries appear at the edge of the wards. Mr. Weasley came back from inside with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny following him. Remus went to talk to the Auxiliaries, to explain the situation.

Harry turned toward Ron and smiled at his friend. "After I get this wound resealed, want to come with me to visit Hermione?"

"How you getting their mate? And how do you know Hermione's at her house?"

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of rope. "Portkey. And one of my assignments during the week was to meet with several of my friends under disguise and see if I was good enough where they wouldn't know it was me. I passed the test and thank god I talked you out of getting me that Chudley Cannon players robe as a present."

Ron punched his friend in the shoulder. "That was you! I really thought you would have liked that robe too."

"Ron, I hate the Cannons. You're the one who is in love with them. The Catapults are my team."

"The Catapults? How could you like the Catapults?" Ron cried out in dismay.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "They were my dads favorite team and they are from Wales, which is where I was born."

"My own best friend, a traitor," Ron muttered, shaking his head.

Mrs. Weasley made her way over to Harry and Ron. She tutted at Harry's bleeding arm before pulling out her wand. She waved it over the cut, banishing all the dry blood that had formed. She then ran her wand over the gash and it sealed up again.

"You learn a lot of healing magic raising seven kids, especially the twins," she explained at Harry's questioning look.

"Anything to deal with a black eye? Some of these guys knew how to throw a punch."

"We got some salve in the kitchen."

Harry allowed Mrs. Weasley to lead him back into the house, Ginny and Ron tagging behind. As Harry was given a seat at the table, he decided to ask Mrs. Weasley if Ron could accompany him.

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm going to be heading to Hermione's in a little bit. Can Ron come with me? Oh and Ginny too, if she'd like to come of course."

Mrs. Weasley paused as she walked over with the salve. She took out a finger full and carefully dabbed it around Harry's eye. "How would you be getting there?"

"Got a portkey," Harry said.

"They taught you how to make a portkey?" Ginny asked.

"No it was made by a Ministry employee. I'm still learning how to create a portkey and apparate for that matter."

Mrs. Weasley looked at Harry in contemplation. "Arthur said you took out all twelve on your own."

Harry nodded his head in agreement. Mrs. Weasley turned and studied her two children, both of whom looked at her with eager faces. She sighed and nodded her head.

"How will you be getting back?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I have a portkey to Remus' place. They can floo back."

* * *

"Harry!" Hermione cried, upon spotting her best friend standing on her front step at eight o'clock on Christmas day.

Harry pulled his bushy-haired friend into a hug, savoring for a brief moment the feel of her body against his. He pulled away quickly though, reminding himself that such feelings weren't allowed to him anymore.

"Happy Christmas Hermione," Harry answered grinning as he pulled away.

"Ron! Ginny!" Hermione cried, pulling them both into hugs. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Harry was visiting you and we decided to tag along," Ginny answered.

"Please, come in. My family is in the other room."

Hermione led them into a living room where both her parents sat. Hermione's dad was a man of small stature with glasses, brown eyes and wild brown hair. Her mother was around the same size as her husband and seemed to be an older version of Hermione, but with hazel eyes instead of brown and tamer hair.

"Mum, Dad I don't know if you remember Harry and Ron, and this is another good friend of mine, Ginny."

Mrs. Granger got up and gave them all hugs, which surprised them some what. Mr. Granger stood as well, shaking hands with Ginny and Ron before stopping in front of Harry.

"So you're the one who broke my daughters heart," Mr. Granger stated.

Harry looked at the man with wide eyes as Hermione cried out; "Dad!"

Mr. Granger laughed before extending his hand to Harry. "I'm just kidding Harry. She told us it was mutual. I'm just upset I'm only meeting you now and not when you guys were going out. I had my hurt her and die speech all worked out and I never got the chance to use it. Now who knows when I'll get the chance."

"Dad," Hermione moaned in embarrassment.

Harry laughed, shaking the man's hand. "Who knows sir, I'm sure you'll get the chance soon."

"I don't know. She spends too much time reading books. It's unnatural I tell you."

Hermione buried her face in her hands as Ron chuckled in agreement.

"John, stop embarrassing your daughter. I'm sure she'd like to spend some time with her friends without us interfering. Hermione told us you joined some kind of government program Harry."

Harry nodded his head. "Has Hermione kept you informed on what is happening in the magical world?"

Mr. Granger nodded his head, a frown making its way on his face. "Yes. This Moldyshorts guy is waging war and killing lots of people right? We tried to convince Hermione to leave the wizarding world behind but she refuses."

Harry, Ron and Ginny snorted in amusement at the mispronunciation of Voldemort's name. "His name is Voldemort," Harry informed the Grangers. "He is the one who killed my parents and tried to kill me as a baby. He failed and went away for a while but now he's back and he has an unhealthy interest in me."

"He's tried to kill Harry several times already and his followers have tried several more times," Ginny chipped in.

"So the Ministry of Magic took me in and is training me so I have a better chance of survival."

Mrs. Granger put her hand to her mouth. "That's terrible! You poor boy."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "It's the life I've been dealt with."

* * *

The four teens had decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. Harry stopped as he spotted a lot of movement going on in a house up ahead. Looking closer he could see dozens of teenagers looking to be having a good time. He turned toward his friends and nodded toward the party.

"Let's go in there."

"Harry, you can't just walk into people's parties," Hermione protested. "And its Christmas, I doubt its a house party."

"Of course you can Hermione," Harry replied. "It's all about attitude. If you act like you belong there, then no one will question you being there. Besides that definitely looks like some teenagers partying with mommy and daddy gone."

"They look like they're having a good time," Ron remarked, observing the house.

"Come on Hermione, don't you have fun at the Quidditch victory parties?" Ginny asked.

"Or the end of finals parties?" Ron questioned. "Or the first weekend back parties? Or the first snow fall of the year parties? Or the we hate Slytherins parties? Or the... you know what, Gryffindor throws a lot of parties."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "It's what we do. Remember the everyone but Slytherins party in our third year? Common room was packed with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs."

"Oh yeah!" Ron said, the memory coming back to him. "Didn't that Hufflepuff seventh year try making out with you?"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, she was wasted. Would have been my first kiss if she didn't end up puking over the back of the couch."

Ron laughed as well, while Hermione shook her head at them and Ginny looked on in curiosity. Third years and below were generally banned from participating in the parties thrown by the older years. The Golden Trio were only ever allowed to the parties because Harry was good friends with his Quidditch teammates, who were some of the more popular people in Gryffindor, and even then Hermione rarely participated.

Hermione bit her lip. "I don't know guys. I didn't get along with my peers when I was in primary school."

"I'm sure if anyone messes with you Harry and Ron will kick their arse. Just remember you're a different person then you were then. Plus you've got loads of friends now, so who cares what they think," Ginny stated, encouraging her friend.

Hermione sighed in resignation. Harry grinned at Hermione and offered her a pat on the shoulder before moving toward the house, the others following behind him. Harry entered the house, not bothering to knock. Immediately the group of teens standing in the entry way all turned and looked at Harry.

"Hello loves," Harry greeted, grinning widely. Harry could tell the females liked his appearance, judging by the appreciative looks he was getting. Being good looking was a good way to get acceptance since first impressions were based off looks, sad but true.

"Who are you guys?" a voice demanded to their left as they stepped fully into the house.

"Is it weird I get a pleasant tingle down my spine whenever I'm not recognized?" Harry asked his friends.

"A little bit," Ron quipped.

"I asked who you are." The voice belonged to an athletic-looking tall kid with flipped brown hair.

"Harry Potter at your service. These are my friends Ron, Ginny and Hermione."

The kid did a double take at Hermione's name. "Frizzy No Friends?"

Harry frowned. "Well that's not a nice nickname."

Hermione stepped forward. "Hello Rick."

Ron leaned forward and whispered into Harry's ear; "Rick. His name just screams 'I'm a douche!'"

Harry nodded his head in agreement. Rick did sound like a very douche name.

"You got hot Granger!" Rick said, giving Hermione a very lewd look.

"Rick was the one who came up with the nickname Frizzy No Friends. He use to tease me all the time."

"Want me to beat his ass?" Harry asked, a little hopeful.

"No Harry, that's okay."

Rick glared at Harry. "I don't care how hot Frizzy No Friends got, you aren't allowed here, so get out."

"What happened to its all about attitude Harry?" Ginny asked sarcastically. Harry shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"Rick!" Suddenly a fairly attractive girl with curly blond hair sauntered into the entry way. "This is my house and my party. They can stay."

Rick looked like he wanted to protest but thought better of it.

"You're lucky my girlfriend is a nice person," Rick snarled out before stomping away.

"Douche," Ron coughed.

"Thank you Kelly," Hermione said.

"No problem Hermione. If you throw in a few pounds there is some beer and liquor in the kitchen," Kelly supplied.

Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out a few notes and handed them over. "That should cover everyone."

"Drinking Harry?" Hermione asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Hey I get one night to relax before its back to training. I want to enjoy myself and what better way then with some alcohol?" Harry gave Hermione his most charming smile. "Now where is the kitchen?"

Several girls immediately jumped at the chance to show Harry to the kitchen. With a grin, Harry allowed himself to be led away. Ron followed with a muttered "lucky bloke" and Ginny followed with a look of jealousy.

"He's hot. Is he your boyfriend?" Kelly asked.

"Ex-boyfriend," Hermione answered, a little stiffly. The entire house was filled with teenagers who had ridiculed her as a child.

"Why would you ever let a guy like him go?"

"We realized we were more like brother and sister."

"Oh. The redhead is pretty cute too. What about him?"

Hermione felt a light blush makes it way onto her cheeks. She had noticed that Ron had gotten cuter as he aged. "We're just friends. He's got a girlfriend back at school."

There was a pause as neither Kelly or Hermione knew what to say. "For what its worth Hermione, I'm sorry I was mean to you when we were younger."

* * *

Harry, being the charismatic person he was, and Ron, who was always joking around, instantly became friends with almost everyone at the party. Ginny found herself being hit on by several drunk males, who kept her occupied throughout the night with their slurred stories and compliments. Hermione had never touched alcohol before and so sat off to the side as her three friends enjoyed themselves. Harry and Ron refused to let her sit by her lonesome the entire night though, and constantly dragged her into conversations.

"Harry, its almost 12:30. I think we should get going," Hermione said, interrupting Harry's rather enthusiastic story about a non-magical prank he played on Sirius.

Harry glanced down at his watch and his eyes widened slightly. He looked at Hermione with slightly glazed eyes and smiled. "Sure things Hermione. Let me go find the gingers and we can hit the road."

"Don't leave Harry," one of the girls surrounding the teen pleaded, batting her eyelashes at him.

"I'd love to stay ladies but I have to report to training tomorrow at noon and so I need my beauty rest," Harry placated, peeling himself from the grip of a particularly clingy girl. "Come on Hermione, help me find our ginger friends!"

Harry picked Hermione up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Harry put me down!" Hermione cried, pounding on his back.

"Can't do that," Harry answered in a serious voice.

Hermione tried to struggle out of Harry's grip but it was impossible, he was simply too strong. Despite her protest though, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little satisfaction at all the jealous looks being thrown her way.

Harry carried her into a room where several teens seemed to be dancing. Ron was in the middle of the room dancing like an idiot while a girl standing near him tried to copy his wild movements, giggling the whole time. Harry turned around, so Hermione could get a glimpse of the flailing limb dance of Ron Weasley.

"Ron, you could be a professional dancer," Hermione giggled.

Ron stopped dancing and grinned widely at his friends. It was obvious that Ron was drunk, more drunk then Harry at least.

"Harry, Hermione, what are you guys doing?"

Harry turned back around so it was him facing Ron and not Hermione. "We're leaving buddy. Help us find your sister."

Ron scratched his head. "Last time I saw her she was getting dragged by some guy..."

Ron trailed off as his mouth fell open into an 'O' of realization. Ron, with a bit of a stagger, charged out of the room. Harry, after putting Hermione down, quickly followed him. They raised up the staircase and into the upstairs hallway, which had half a dozen closed doors. Ron paused, looking at all the doors. Harry closed his eyes for a moment before pointing to the one farthest from them.

Ron went to open the door but found it lock. So he stood back, raised his leg and kicked it open. As bits of wood shattered everywhere, Ron rushed into the room and looked around. What he saw was a male laying on the floor clutching his bleeding nose and Ginny standing over him with a raised fist.

"When I say no, I mean no!" Ginny shouted, swaying slightly.

Hermione, who had traveled behind Ron and Harry at a slower pace, moved up to Ginny and wrapped her arms around the teen, walking her out of the room. Ron stood over the teen who had tried getting fresh with his sister and looked down at him.

"Just be lucky I wasn't here two minutes ago. I wouldn't of just punched you in the face; I'd have killed you." Ron stomped from the room and Harry followed, but not before waving his hand and repairing the damage done to the door and door frame. The kid with the bloody nose looked at Harry with wide eyes and Harry just smirked at him over his shoulder.

Ginny and Hermione were downstairs and together, the four of them left the house and walked, in silence, back to the Grangers. Hermione let them into the dark house; her parents already asleep.

"It was good seeing you again Harry," Hermione said, pulling her friend into a hug.

"Training is almost over, so I'll be showing up more often," Harry replied grinning.

"You better!"

Harry smirked as Hermione released her grip on them. He turned toward the still drunk Ron and Ginny. "Alright gingers, grab hold of the portkey and lets get you two home."

* * *

Black eyes fluttered opened, a large groan escaping from the man's mouth. For the first time in nine months Severus Snape looked upon the world and all he saw was a white hospital room and Minerva McGonagall. Slowly the events of what put him in a hospital came fluttering back to him.

"Potter!" Snape bit out, struggling to sit up in the bed.

"Calm down Severus," McGonagall said, trying to ease the fussing man. Although McGonagall tried to make her voice sound soothing it was too cold to offer any comfort. While the actions Harry Potter took against Professor Snape were brutal and mostly uncalled for, she would never be able to forgive the man after learning his role in the deaths of James and Lily Potter.

Although his throat was dry Snape managed to bite out, "Potter attacked me!"

"We know everything Severus." McGonagall handed him a glass of water sitting next to his bedside, which the man greedily drank. "You've been in a coma for nine months."

Snape gaped at her. "Nine months?"

McGonagall nodded her head as Snape started spluttering in fury.

"Where is Dumbledore?" Snape demanded after calming down.

"Things are different now Severus. You-Know-Who has taken over several countries in Eastern Europe and has created an empire. Dumbledore is there fighting him right now with a large coalition force from numerous nations."

Snape was quiet for a moment. "Who is in charge of Hogwarts and the Order then?"

"I am Headmistress and Moody runs the Order. Which is why I'm here. Your services will no longer be required at Hogwarts." McGonagall put up her hand, silencing Snape's protesting before it could begin. "While a great Potions Master Severus you are not a teacher. You don't have the patience or the temperament for it. Here."

McGonagall handed Snape several envelopes, which he took with shaky hands.

"What are these?" Snape asked, eying the thick yellow envelops with caution.

"One of them contains a bank note with your severance pay, as well as your termination papers. Another is a loyalty contract Moody requires all Order members to sign. The last is a note from the Ministry stating that Harry's actions against you met the requirements of the Pureblood Reparations Act and that his punishment inflicted by the Headmaster, plus the fine he was forced to pay, were sufficient enough."

Snape's eyes widened in anger at the last bit and he started cursing up a storm. McGonagall got up and walked out of the room, ignoring the threats of violence Snape swore he would enact on Potter when he had the chance. It wasn't just Snape's inability to teach that made her fire the man. She wasn't Dumbledore, she had no trust in Severus Snape; neither did Moody. Moody had stated he doubted Snape would sign the loyalty contract and rejoin the Order and she was inclined to agree.


	12. Ridgeback

IMPORTANT A/N: This chapter isn't complete and it won't be complete for a while. I'm going back to the _Death Eaters of Hogwarts_ and I'm going to revise the entire series. I feel like though my stories are decent, there are a lot of things I can do to make them good. Not only will I be fixing spelling mistakes, I'm going to be adding and taking away from chapters where I see fit. Sometimes I mentioned something and then completely forgot about it; I want to fix that. Chapter 1 remains mostly the same, with the changes starting in Chapter 2.

Once I revise all the chapters for DEoH I'll post them all at the same time. Then I'm going to go over the first few chapters for this story and revise them. Once I am satisfied with everything, I'll continue on with the story. **If anyone has any suggestions to how to improve either story, feel free to leave me a review. It would be appreciated.**

END IMPORTANT A/N.

The next few chapters will have dialogue in French. Since my French is shaky at best, I'm using a website to translate for me, so please excuse me if it isn't how you would properly say such a sentence. Since I don't like it when I have to scroll towards the bottom of the page to see what is being spoken when people have dialogue in other languages, I've decided to post the English translation at the end of the sentence in parenthesis. Hopefully, that makes it an easier read. If not let me know.

Chapter 12 Ridgeback

Harry sat in a rather comfortable chair in a small conference room. He was the only one in the room at the moment but had been told to be in this very room at one o'clock sharp and that was nine minutes ago. He idly drummed his fingers on the table top to the circular table that occupied the room. His training had ended yesterday. While he wasn't the best at anything when compared to the other Areani and the Knights, he was top three or four in everything but potions and healing, making him the most well rounded out of the group; though it was a given that in a few years he would be the best magical fighter in the group.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry looked up as Russo and a middle-age man with a very impressive mustache walked into the room.

"Harry, this is one of your handlers, Maxwell Hammer," Russo said, indicating the man with the impressive mustache.

Harry went to stand to shake the man's hand, but Hammer just slid a folder across the table. Harry took the folder and opened it. Photos of the men he had restrained at the Burrow on Christmas were the first things in the folder.

"The men who were to attack the Burrow are members of the Dragon Mafia. Notice the intricate tattoos on the back of their necks." Harry shuffled some photos and saw the tattoos Hammer was talking about. "The Dragon Mafia is the largest wizarding mafia in Europe, with several hundred members in Central Europe and its home base in Italy."

"The Dragons," Russo started, "have been in negotiations with Voldemort about forming an alliance between them. They were going to kill the Weasley family as a sign of good faith, knowing of their relationship to you."

"The Dragons are led by the Don, who we are still gathering information on. Next in line are ten men who are named after the various dragon breeds' Opaleye, Welsh Green, Fireball, Ironbelly, Vipertooth, Horntail, Ridgeback, Short-Snout, Longhorn, Horntail and Hebridean. You're target is Ridgeback."

Next in the folder was a picture of a tall man with long blond hair that was so light it was almost white. The man had cold gray eyes and immediately Harry was reminded of Lucius Malfoy.

"In case you can't tell from the familial looks, Ridgeback is a Malfoy; Lysander Malfoy to be exact. He is the head of the French branch of the Malfoy family, which is the main branch. He has been suspected of being a member of the Dragon Mafia for almost two decades but no concrete evidence has been proven against him until recently." Hammer indicated for Russo to take over.

"Encoded messages were intercepted between Lucius and Lysander. The code was cracked; Lysander was asking for Lucius' help in getting his men undetected into the country. We want you to capture Lysander alive and destroy his base of power. How you do it is up to you but we want it done."

Harry looked at all the information gathered on Lysander Malfoy, aka Ridgeback. Ridgeback never traveled without ten guards and was in command of close to ninety men in northern France and Belgium. Whenever one of the Dragon's zones were being threatened, whether it be by an upstart wizarding gang, a rival mafia or the government, the other ones immediately came to their aid. It would be tricky but he would manage.

"When do I start?" Harry asked.

"Today. According to source the negotiations have been going well. We need you to put a crimp in them now. We have a supply room for you to grab whatever you think you'll need before shipping off." Hammer slid two keys across the table, a house key and a Gringotts key; both of which Harry grabbed. "Your base of operations will be an apartment in Paris purchased under the name Julian Chevalier, which will be your alias. It currently has no defenses, which we will leave you to set up. A Gringotts account has also been set up for you."

Harry knew a dismissal when he heard one and so stood from his seat and exited the room. One of his former trainers was waiting for him outside the conference room. The man didn't speak, just made a come hither motion and started walking away. Harry followed and found himself led to a large room filled with various supplies.

Spare wands, staffs, battle armor, gems and stones used for warding, and dozens of other things greeted his eyes. He collected a napsack that was hanging from the wall and began to make his way around the room. He grabbed a healthy amount of materials to make wards. He hadn't had the chance to get his own personal sword and dagger made yet, and so, after testing the weight and feel of several weapons, grabbed one of each that was being supplied to him.

One would never bring a sword or dagger to a wand fight unless they had no other option but they were effective to use when one didn't want to be detected and alert others to their presence by using magic. Sure he could just beat the shit out of his opponent with his bare hands but swords were more...effective.

He grabbed a bunch of potions, mostly healing but a few that caused explosions and the like, as well as some healing salves. He looked at the muggle supplies he would be able to use to disguise his appearance. He grabbed some hair dye and bleach, a pair of colored contacts and some cover up. He also snatched a cell phone off the table, and checked the number for the phone.

He already had battle armor, two spare wands, three wand holsters, a staff, an invisibility cloak, an Auror utility belt and a Hit-Wizard medi-kit. He made his way out of the storage room and went to his dorm, where his trunk sat. He made sure everything he owned was gathered inside and shrunk the thing before putting it in the rucksack as well. Content that he had everything he needed, he made his way back to the conference room.

"Got everything Potter?" Hammer asked.

"Yes sir," Harry replied, jiggling his rucksack.

Hammer nodded his head and held out several folders stacked with pieces of parchment and photos. "This is all the information we have gathered on Ridgeback and the Dragon Mafia in Northern France and Beligium."

"How am I getting to Paris?" Harry asked. As soon as the words left his mouth he felt a hook behind his naval as the conference room became a blur. One of the folders was a portkey; definitely Russo's idea.

Harry observed his wall of information. He had been in Paris for a week and had just been observing everything he could in the wizarding sector. He had taken pictures of various witches and wizards identified as members of the Dragon Mafia and pinned them to the wall, along with whatever information he gathered on them. It was mostly simple "soldiers;" your everyday henchmen who hold no real power and are mostly used to do all the muscle work. One of them was a Hitman, a burly looking wizard who was skilled at killing people in inconspicuous ways.

Nodding his head, Harry pressed a button on the opposite wall from his wall of information. A fake wall slid into existence over the wall of information, concealing it from view. It was one of the few improvements he had made to his apartment. It was done by a muggle company who specialized in creating secret passages and hidden rooms in houses. Also added were the several hidden chambers throughout the apartment that contained either a dagger or an extra wand.

The apartment was a three bedroom, one and a half bathroom steal just outside the wizarding district in Paris. The master bedroom, living room and kitchen was richly decorated. The two spare bedrooms were empty, as he didn't know what he wanted to do with them yet, though he had an idea.

The warding scheme on the place wasn't the most complex out there as Harry wasn't the greatest at Ward Building. However, he had made it so when someone so much as examined his wards, he would instantly be alerted. Not the greatest but at least he wouldn't be caught off guard.

Making sure he had everything he needed, Harry stepped out into the world and made his way over to Bonnacord Square; the Paris equivalent of the Diagon Alley District. It was much more open; the streets were a lot wider. The stores were brighter in color and it just seemed to give off a more joyous feel then Diagon Alley.

Harry took his usual seat at a cafe and placed his order with the waiter. He appeared nonchalant but his gaze never strayed far from a store up the street. Then someone caught his eye and he turned his head to observe the person.

Harry casually observed Lysander Malfoy from a far as the man went inside of a tailor shop. It appeared the head of the entire Malfoy family was getting some silk robes costumed made. Three men were in the store with Lysander, two more stood outside the doorway and Harry observed another five who were trying to act like they weren't following Lysander's every move. These were the guards he would have to take care of if he wished to capture the infamous Ridgeback.

He had debated how to go about taking out the Ridgeback's sphere of influence. Should he go after Lysander first and then worry about the men, or should he start taking out the men before he went after Lysander? He had decided to go after as large chunk of the men before severing the head and taking Ridgeback down.

He had a list of several stores that the Dragons shook down for "protection money." One of them was an apothecary several stores down from the cafe Harry currently sat at. He hadn't expected to come across Lysander, the man had walked into his field of vision.

"Ici vous allez monsieur." (Here you go sir.)

Harry looked up and saw that his waiter had returned with his order. Harry accepted the tea with a nod of his head. He resisted the urge to swipe non-existent bangs out of his eyes. His hair was now cut short and flipped in the front. It was also a dirty blonde, something that involved bleaching his black hair and then dying it. His brown eyes, thanks to a pair of colored contacts, flickered back and forth between the apothecary and the tailor shop Lysander was in. His scar was hidden under movie-grade concealer, just like that used in Hollywood. This was his Julian Chevalier disguise, a home schooled French half-blood.

He had his assumptions of why Lysander was in the area. He was proven right when three men with their hoods up walked into the apothecary and seconds later, the customer who was in the store, quickly went sprinting out.

With a sigh, Harry waved his wand over his face, casting a notice-me-not. He took a big sip of his tea, tossed some knuts on the table and quickly stood from his seat. He observed that some of Lysander's guards were carefully watching the apothecary. Harry didn't pay them any mind as he walked right into the shop.

There was two employees in the store; a young woman behind the counter and an older gentlemen who appeared to be the owner. Both were held at wand point, as another rummaged though the cash register. The bell above the doorway rang as he entered the store, bringing everyone's attention to Harry.

"Ceci n'est pas où j'ai garé mon tapis magique," Harry stated as he took in the scene. (This isn't where I parked my magic carpet.)

The man rummaging through the cash register, quickly took out his wand and aimed it at Harry. "Sortir maintenant si vous savez quel est bon pour vous," the man snarled. (Get out of here now if you know what's good for you.)

"S'il vous plaît ne pas indiquer votre baguette à moi, c'est tout à fait impoli," Harry stated. (Please don't point your wand at me, its quite rude.)

"Vous avez obtenu de trois seconde pour partir ou vous le regretterez! " one of the other men growled out. "Un...deux..."(You got three seconds to leave or you'll regret it! One...two...)

Harry smirked. "Trois." (Three.)

Harry's wand snapped into his hand as he launched a banisher at the man pointing the wand at him. As his over-powered spell punched through a hastily erected shield and sent the man flying across the room, Harry dove toward his closest opponent. He came up in a roll, and his left hand shot out and grasped the man's robe. He tugged hard on the second hooded man, right into the path of the bludgeoner cast by the third hooded man. As the second one collapsed with some broken ribs, Harry shielded himself from another spell shot his way. He spun around a third spell and stunned the final guy.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Harry muttered as he surveyed the three down men. He stunned the first two, if only to stop their moans of pain, putting them into the realm of unconsciousness like their buddy.

"Regarder hors!" the female employee shouted, pointing behind Harry. (Look out!)

Harry turned toward the door to see two of Lysander's guards enter the shop with their wands drawn. Blocking a wave of spells thrown his way, Harry unholstered the spare wand from his hip with his left hand. Waving his spare wand, Harry gently banished the two employees behind the sales counter, giving them cover from spell fire. Deflecting a curse back at its caster, Harry winced as a stray spell slammed into a shelf and caused several bottles to explode and spill their contents everywhere. A magical duel in the middle of an apothecary wasn't a great idea.

Twirling his wand, a cyclone of magic formed in front of Harry and began to absorb the spells shot at him. He collapsed the tornado of magic as a clumsily cast Killing Curse was shot his way. Making sure his dodging of the spell wouldn't put the two employees in danger, Harry ducked under the spell and retaliated with a piercer. His spell blew through a weak shield and caught his target in the stomach. The man crumpled to the ground. Without his comrade to help keep up the continuous spellfire, Harry was easily able to take down the second guard with an overpowered stunner.

Harry made a mental note in his head. Dragon mafia henchmen were below your average Death Eater in terms of fighting. It made sense though. Death Eaters fought Hit-Wizards and Aurors. Mafia henchmen rarely got caught in confrontations with the authorities. Death Eaters were more of a ragtag military force; a pureblood militia, while the henchmen were more common thugs united under a common leader.

Harry jabbed his wand at the shop door and locked it. He went about transfiguring the passed out men into something he would be able to carry in his pocket. It was complex transfiguration, changing a living thing, especially a magical one, into a non-living thing. Still, in a few minutes Harry had five new pairs of underwear.

The entire time he worked the two employees just gaped at him with wide eyes. He didn't have time to deal with them and explain the situation. He needed to get out of the shop. More of Lysander's guards would probably be entering the store soon to see what was taking so long.

"Au revoir," Harry murmured, nodding his head at the employees.

The male employee just stared at him. The female gave him a small wave. Harry smiled before disappearing from the room with a hook behind his naval. The portkey dropped him off in an alley several blocks from his alter ego, Julian Chevalier's, apartment.

He stopped off on the way to his apartment at a pet store and purchased some things that got him an odd look from the manager, especially when he insisted he didn't need help carrying his purchases. With a bit of magic, he managed to carry his burden through the muggle streets with only a few strange glances from pedestrians.

When he got into his apartment he went to work carving runes into his new purchases. He carved runes to suppress magic and runes to make the items unbreakable. When he was done, he moved the items into one of the spare bedrooms before setting them up and placing each of the transfigured Dragon henchmen into their own space. With a wave of his wand, he reversed the transfiguration.

Five, extra large dog cages contained five Dragon Mafia "soldiers," none of them conscious. The one he had hit with a piercer was still bleeding from his wound and Harry was forced to perform enough healing so the man wouldn't die anytime soon.

"Where am I?" the man demanded as soon as he was conscious.

Harry merely stared at the man with a blank face. Translation charms had been cast around the room since, though his French was good, it wasn't that good. He needed to make sure there was no words lost in translation during the...interview.

"Answer some questions and you'll live. Don't answer some questions and...well you'll still be alive but it won't be a very comfortable existence I can assure you. Although I have no personal experience, I would assume living without your one-eyed monster isn't fun."

"My what?" the man asked.

"Your one-eyed monster? Your milk snake? Your jolly pink giant?" The man continued to stare at Harry blankly. "Your penis man! I'm going to cut off your penis if you don't answer my question!"


	13. AN

Those waiting for an update to this story will be disappointed to know one will not be coming. However, there is still hope! I have updated the prequel to this.

You can find the updated version here: s/7380967/1/The-Death-Eaters-of-Hogwarts

I have also started working on a re-written version of this story itself; which you can find here: s/8379613/1/The-Areani


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